Social Security Benefits: Appeals

(asked on 22nd June 2020) - View Source

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment his Department has made of the feasibility of (a) employment and support allowance, (b) personal independence payment and (c) universal credit appeals being heard by tribunals virtually.


Answered by
Chris Philp Portrait
Chris Philp
Minister of State (Home Office)
This question was answered on 29th June 2020

(1) Appeals to the First-tier Tribunal (Social Security and Child Support) (SSCS) have continued to be heard inline with government guidance throughout the pandemic. Face to face hearings have been replaced with telephone hearings and the use of other remote hearing technology to facilitate as many hearings as possible being held remotely. All parties to the hearings are being contacted directly to confirm the new hearing arrangements.

In addition to holding remote hearings in all regions, appeals may also be decided by judges sitting alone in chambers, using the evidence before them in the case papers.

(2) The number of appeals which were ready to list1 for a hearing as at 31 March2 (the latest date for which data are available) was a) 4,832 for Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) 3, (b) 23,134 for Personal Independence Payment (PIP) 4 and (c) 7,013 for Universal Credit (UC) 5.

(3) After a number of successful tests, arrangements are currently being made to introduce and make available Cloud Video Platform (CVP) hearings in all SSCS Tribunal regions. The decision as to how a hearing is conducted is a matter for the judge who will determine how best to uphold the interests of justice. In considering the suitability of video/audio, judges will consider issues such as the benefit type under appeal, the nature of the matters at stake during the hearing and any issues the use of video/audio technology may present for participants in the hearing.

1 The ready to list status could include those appeals where an earlier hearing had been adjourned (which may be directed by the judge for a variety of reasons, such as to seek further evidence), or after an earlier hearing date had been postponed (again, for a variety of reasons, often at the request of the appellant). An appeal may also have been decided at an earlier date by the First-tier Tribunal, only for the case to have gone on to the Upper Tribunal, to be returned once again to the First-tier for its final disposal.

2 Latest data available in line with published statistics.

3 Includes Employment Support Allowance and Employment Support Allowance (Reassessments).

4 Personal Independence Payment (New Claim Appeals) which replaces Disability Living Allowance was introduced on 8 April 2013, also includes Personal Independence Clams (Reassessments).

5 Universal Credit was introduced on 29 April 2013 in selected areas of Greater Manchester and Cheshire, and has been gradually rolled out to the rest of the UK from October 2013.

Although care is taken when processing and analysing these data, the details are subject to inaccuracies inherent in any large-scale case management system and are the best data that are available. The data may differ slightly to that of the published statistics where data were run on a different date.

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