Social Security and Child Support Tribunal: Appeals

(asked on 26th October 2022) - View Source

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to help reduce the number of cases in which the Social Security and Child Support Tribunal finds in favour of the claimant following an appeal against a (a) benefit and (b) child maintenance decision.


Answered by
Mims Davies Portrait
Mims Davies
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
This question was answered on 2nd November 2022

The aim is to make the right decision as early as possible in the claim journey. We are constantly looking to improve our processes and learn from tribunal outcomes. We have made improvements to our decision-making process to ensure that we not only gather all material evidence as early as possible but more that we carefully consider that evidence so that we identify the key facts that inform the decision made. Tribunals are independent and in considering the same evidence directly with the claimant, may obtain a different perspective and thereby reach a different conclusion.

In relation to Child Maintenance decision making there is an accuracy strategy which has consistently delivered low levels of error (less than 1% of monetary value) as reported by NAO. This is aided by a proactive approach at the Mandatory Reconsideration stage where both parties are invited to submit further evidence, to help ensure we make the right decision.

We will continue to make improvements to our decision-making processes to help ensure that more people get the correct decision earlier in their claim journey.

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