Personal Independence Payment: Appeals

(asked on 20th March 2019) - View Source

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 23 November 2017 to Question 113562 on Personal Independence Payment: Appeals, if it remains the Government's intention that Presenting Officers attend 50 per cent of personal independence and employment and support allowance tribunals.


Answered by
Justin Tomlinson Portrait
Justin Tomlinson
This question was answered on 25th March 2019

I refer the Hon. Member to the answer provided to Question 229226.

The Department’s main objective is to ensure that Presenting Officers (POs) attend hearings of those complex cases where their presence will be of most benefit to the tribunal in reaching the right decision. The 50% attendance figure was an aspiration based on a set of assumptions made when the Department originally began recruiting additional POs. As POs became established their remit adapted to focus on complex cases; but they also needed to be trained in presenting Universal Credit work capability assessment appeals, as the replacement for ESA. So whilst the initial aspiration has not been met, critically PO attendance for these types of cases has nevertheless been high and will continue to be so in the future.

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