Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what was the total cost to the public purse of legal aid funding for Upper Tribunal appeals against a decision made by the social security tribunal in each year since 2015.

We do not hold the information requested regarding the proportion of upper tribunal appeals made against a decision by the social security tribunal which were funded by legal aid in each year since 2015.

We can answer the second question on Legal aid expenditure for Upper Tribunal appeals against a decision made by the social security tribunal in each year since 2015. This data is set out in the table below:

General expenditure in the civil category, which would include Upper Tribunal appeal cases in the Social Security category is published as part of LAA official quarterly statistics: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/legal-aid-statistics-quarterly-april-to-june-2022.