Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of enabling all applicants to retain their benefits pending the outcome of a tribunal proceeding on their claim.
The law, save for one exception, has never provided for the payment of benefit pending a tribunal hearing where entitlement has ended. (Historically the one exception has related to benefits where entitlement is linked to capacity for work. Today this means that some ESA claimants can be paid the basic rate of ESA pending their appeal being heard.)