Personal Independence Payment: Appeals

(asked on 16th May 2019) - View Source

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Keen of Elie on 10 May (HL15362), if such data on the waiting times for appeal hearings on Personal Independence Payment claims are not held centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost, how they determine whether (1) claims are being dealt with in a timely manner, and (2) the resources allocated to deal with appeals are adequate to meet the backlog of appeal claims.


Answered by
 Portrait
Lord Keen of Elie
This question was answered on 31st May 2019

HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) closely monitors waiting times. However, HMCTS does not keep data on waiting times within the specific and localised timeframes cited in the earlier question, answered on 10 May (HL15362), to which this question refers – namely, (1) up to six months, (2) six to 12 months, (3) 12 to 24 months, and (4) over 24 months. Information about volumes and waiting times for Personal Independence Payment (PIP) appeals is published by the Ministry of Justice in the Tribunals and Gender Recognition Certificate Statistics Quarterly. HMCTS receives a bi-annual forecast of expected appeals from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and that informs our resourcing plans as well as informing judicial recruitment. Additional fee-paid judicial office holders have been recruited: 250 judges across the First-tier Tribunal, 118 disability qualified members and up to 232 medical members. In addition, more PIP appeals are being listed per session and case-management “triage” sessions have been introduced, with the aim of reducing the time taken for appeals to reach final determination. All these measures will increase the capacity of the tribunal, with the aim of reducing waiting times for appellants.

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