Matt Shanahan: Alarm over 50% social welfare appeal success rate

Matt Shanahan addressed the Comptroller and Auditor-General's report on social welfare appeals, highlighting that around 14,000 of roughly 26,000 appeals resulted in revised decisions. He argued this raises serious questions about the fairness, transparency and efficiency of social welfare decision-making and pushed for administrative changes to speed up appeals.

Audit findings

The Comptroller and Auditor-General's figures show about 26,000 social welfare appeals with just over 14,000 leading to a revised decision - a success rate of around 50 per cent. Matt Shanahan used these numbers to question the robustness of initial decisions and the scale of overturned determinations.

Concerns about decision-making

He said the high overturn rate raises important questions about fairness, transparency and efficiency in social welfare decision-making and asked how many people do not appeal when they should. He emphasised the real impact of denied payments on vulnerable people and their dependents.

Administrative and legislative measures

Matt Shanahan noted the Department of Social Protection and the improvements in appeal turnaround times over the last period. He also told colleagues he brought a request to Cabinet within the Social Protection legislation to allow the appointment of two more registered officers for appeals, which he said should help reduce delays.

Appeals processing timing

The speech records both that turnaround time has actually improved over the last period and that, in fairness, turnaround time has increased considerably over the last number of months. Matt Shanahan highlighted this mixed picture while pressing for clearer, more reliable decision-making and faster appeals processing.