Social Security Benefits: Appeals

(asked on 28th January 2019) - View Source

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many hearings in the first tier tribunal in the social entitlement chamber took place where her Department was a respondent; and at how many of those hearings a representative of the Department was in attendance in each month in 2018.


Answered by
Sarah Newton Portrait
Sarah Newton
This question was answered on 14th February 2019

The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (SoS) is the respondent in the First-tier Tribunal (FtT). The SoS responds to Notices of Appeal in writing. Where the SoS is additionally represented, in person, it is usually by a Presenting Officer. Presenting Officers represent the Department at tribunal hearings and provide valuable feedback to both Decision Makers and Health Care Professionals.

Information on the number of Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) and Personal Independence Payment (PIP) appeals cleared at an oral hearing and the number where a Presenting Officer represented the Department are shown in the table below. To provide information across other DWP administered benefits would incur disproportionate cost.

There are a small number of occasions when the SoS instructs counsel to represent her before the FtT, this information is not recorded separately.

ESA and PIP appeals cleared at an oral hearing

Total

Presenting Officer represented the Department

Jan-18

12,040

4,020

Feb-18

10,260

3,470

Mar-18

10,190

3,120

Apr-18

10,150

2,930

May-18

10,760

3,120

Jun-18

11,150

2,870

Jul-18

10,250

2,510

Aug-18

9,760

1,940

Sep-18

9,010

1,790

The reduction in oral hearings attended by Presenting Officers is due to a number of factors. This includes significant training and upskilling of Presenting Officers affecting the number of hearings attended, and normal attrition rates leading to a reduction in the number of Presenting Officers in post. We expect that FtT hearings attended by Presenting Officers will increase once training and current recruitment activity has been completed and will be monitoring this regularly.

Data has been rounded to the nearest 10.

Great Britain only.

Appeals may have more than one hearing, including where hearings are adjourned. The figures in the table above only include oral hearings where the appeal was cleared. They also exclude paper hearings.

This data is unpublished data. It should be used with caution and it may be subject to future revision.

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