Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate his Department has made of the number of personal independence payment cases appealed to HM Courts and Tribunal Service in each quarter since January 2015.

Information about the volumes and outcomes of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) appeals to the First-tier Tribunal (Social Security and Child Support) (SSCS) is published at:

www.gov.uk/government/collections/tribunals-statistics

Latest figures (to June 2018) indicate that since PIP was introduced, 3.5 million decisions have been made, and of these 9% have been appealed and 4% have been overturned at tribunals.

We are working with the Department for Work and Pensions to understand what could be done to reduce the number of appeals being submitted to the tribunal, through their focus on improving decision-making and the mandatory reconsideration process.

We are also taking forward initiatives with potential to increase the capacity and performance of the tribunal, for instance by introducing case management “triage” sessions, with the aim of reducing the time taken for appeals to reach final determination.