Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much his Department spent on Personal Independence Payment tribunals in each year since 2021.

The full cost of a tribunal cannot be ascertained. This is because appeals are a joint process between DWP and HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS). DWP do not handle tribunals for appeals; the cost of handling appeal tribunals sits with HMCTS and we do not hold their cost information. If this information were required, we would suggest that this element of your request be submitted to HMCTS.

The department holds information relating to the initial PIP appeals process and that can be provided for financial years 2021/22 to 2023/24. The costs of processing the appeals would include expenditure relating to DWP Presenting Officers who attend some Tribunals. The DWP PIP Presenting Officers costs are detailed below:

Cost figures are rounded to the nearest £0.1m.

Data Source: ABM

The cost figures quoted are estimated DWP level 1 operating costs, including both direct delivery staff and non-staff costs. Non-staff costs are only those costs incurred in local cost centres, relating to direct delivery staff.

The figures provided are for PIP Presenting Officers only and excludes Admin Support or Decision Making staff dealing with the initial appeals processing work.

Please note that the data supplied is from the Departmental Activity Based Models. This data is derived from unpublished management information, which was collected for internal Departmental use only, and has not been quality assured to National Statistics or Official Statistics publication standards. It should therefore be treated with caution. The Departmental Activity Based staffing models are a snapshot of how many people were identified as undertaking specified activities as assigned by line managers.

The data is frequently revised and changes to definitions / benefits / DWP structure effect comparisons over time. It should therefore be treated with caution and must be seen as an indication of cost, rather than the actual cost.

The 2023/24 model is still in DRAFT and these are not the final approved figures.