Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 26 April 2023 to Question 181603 on Personal Independence Payment: Appeals, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the incidence of individuals being refused a Personal Independence Payment award at initial claim and mandatory reconsideration before receiving an award due to lapsed appeal.

The department’s aim is to make the right decision as early as possible in the process.

To support this, we have made improvements to the decision-making process at both the first decision and the Mandatory Reconsideration stage, giving Decision Makers additional time to proactively contact claimants if they think additional evidence may support the claim.​

We are continuing to learn from decisions overturned at appeal. For example, we gather insight from Presenting Officers who regularly provide feedback from hearings they attend, with a view to learning from overturned decisions.​