Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of (a) the accuracy of decisions on Fit for Work assessments, and (b) trends in the level of initial decisions overturned by HM Courts and Tribunal Service between October 2013 and December 2016.

Statistics on appeal outcomes for Fit for Work decisions in initial assessment by month of claim start are given in Table 3 of the quarterly official statistics bulletin, “Employment and Support Allowance: Outcomes of Work Capability Assessments, Great Britain”, available at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/esa-outcomes-of-work-capability-assessments-including-mandatory-reconsiderations-and-appeals-march-2018.

Whilst the statistics indicate an increasing trend in overturned decisions at appeal these need to be considered in the context of ESAWCA decisions as a whole:

• between April 2014 and September 2017, 3.1 million ESA WCA decisions were made, of which 8 per cent were appealed and 4 per cent overturned at appeal; and

• the majority of decisions are overturned because of new or additional evidence provided to the tribunal, that has not previously be seen by a DWP decision maker. This could be new written evidence or the claimants oral evidence given at the hearing.

The Department has work in progress to drive continuous improvement: recruitment of 150 Presenting Officers for PIP and ESA, to represent DWP and provide valuable insight into why decisions are overturned; tests exploring how we can improve evidence gathering and quality of decision making; and a new quality strategy to ensure a joined up approach across all aspects of mandatory reconsideration, keeping the claimant at the heart of the process.