Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will publish guidance on the steps a claimant should take when his Department fails to reinstate a claim following a successful appeal.

Personal Independence Payment has a target of 28 days for implementing a tribunal’s decision and is currently averaging around 10 days.

Employment and Support Allowance and Universal Credit do not have an overarching target. Decisions are implemented as quickly as possible, with some exceptions.

For all three benefits, information on the average time to reinstate payments for the period requested is not collated centrally and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

If a decision is not implemented timeously, there is guidance published by HMCTS and available on Gov.UK, entitled ‘How to appeal against a decision made by the Department for Work and Pensions’.

The main reason that a tribunal’s decision might not be implemented timeously, is if the Secretary of State considers that the decision may contain an error of law and suspends payment of the tribunal’s award whilst that is considered. In such a case the claimant must be notified that this is being done. If the claimant is not notified of a reason for the decision not being implemented, then they can contact the department: this can be done by using the telephone numbers on Gov.UK, on the decision letter they received, or by attending a Jobcentre; if it is a UC appeal they can use their journal.