Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 9 June to Question 187674 on Personal Independence Payment: Appeals, what steps his Department is taking with His Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service to reduce the number and proportion of Personal Independence Payment claims going to appeal.

The department is committed to making the right decision as early as possible in the claims process.

To support this, we have made improvements to decision-making 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.