Asked by: Kate Osamor (Independent - Edmonton)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 7 July 2022 to Question 27677, If she will publish the guidance followed by her Department’s staff when they communicate with claimants to confirm whether or not an appeal has lapsed.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
Information about the processes and actions taken regarding lapsed appeals can be found in the guidance attached.
To confirm: Where a decision is revised, and appeal lapsed, we will notify the claimant or their representative in writing setting out the reasons for the change of decision, and the relevant appeal rights. Where the revised decision does not give the claimant the level of award they were seeking on appeal the appeal will not be lapsed without agreement from the claimant and, where appropriate, their representative, either by telephone or in writing.
The revision (and lapse) can be on any ground which has the effect of changing the decision in the claimant’s favour. Each case is considered on its own merits which of course means that the numbers lapsed will vary over time.
Asked by: Kate Osamor (Independent - Edmonton)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 7 July 2022 to Question 27677 on Social Security Benefits: Appeals, if she will publish the guidance her Department uses to decide whether or not an appeal should be allowed to lapse.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
Information about the processes and actions taken regarding lapsed appeals can be found in the guidance attached.
To confirm: Where a decision is revised, and appeal lapsed, we will notify the claimant or their representative in writing setting out the reasons for the change of decision, and the relevant appeal rights. Where the revised decision does not give the claimant the level of award they were seeking on appeal the appeal will not be lapsed without agreement from the claimant and, where appropriate, their representative, either by telephone or in writing.
The revision (and lapse) can be on any ground which has the effect of changing the decision in the claimant’s favour. Each case is considered on its own merits which of course means that the numbers lapsed will vary over time.
Asked by: Kate Osamor (Independent - Edmonton)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 7 July 2022 to Question 27677 on Social Security Benefits: Appeals, for what reason did the number of lapsed Personal Independence Payment appeals increase between 2013 and 2022.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
Information about the processes and actions taken regarding lapsed appeals can be found in the guidance attached.
To confirm: Where a decision is revised, and appeal lapsed, we will notify the claimant or their representative in writing setting out the reasons for the change of decision, and the relevant appeal rights. Where the revised decision does not give the claimant the level of award they were seeking on appeal the appeal will not be lapsed without agreement from the claimant and, where appropriate, their representative, either by telephone or in writing.
The revision (and lapse) can be on any ground which has the effect of changing the decision in the claimant’s favour. Each case is considered on its own merits which of course means that the numbers lapsed will vary over time.
Asked by: Kate Osamor (Independent - Edmonton)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 7 July 2022 to Question 27677 on Social Security Benefits: Appeals, whether her Department reviews every appeal after it is lodged to determine whether to allow an appeal to lapse.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
Information about the processes and actions taken regarding lapsed appeals can be found in the guidance attached.
To confirm: Where a decision is revised, and appeal lapsed, we will notify the claimant or their representative in writing setting out the reasons for the change of decision, and the relevant appeal rights. Where the revised decision does not give the claimant the level of award they were seeking on appeal the appeal will not be lapsed without agreement from the claimant and, where appropriate, their representative, either by telephone or in writing.
The revision (and lapse) can be on any ground which has the effect of changing the decision in the claimant’s favour. Each case is considered on its own merits which of course means that the numbers lapsed will vary over time.
Asked by: Kate Osamor (Independent - Edmonton)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 7 July 2022 to Question 27677 on Social Security Benefits: Appeals, on what grounds her Department decides to allow an (a) Personal Independence Payment, (b) Universal Credit or (c) Employment and Support Allowance appeal to lapse.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
Information about the processes and actions taken regarding lapsed appeals can be found in the guidance attached.
To confirm: Where a decision is revised, and appeal lapsed, we will notify the claimant or their representative in writing setting out the reasons for the change of decision, and the relevant appeal rights. Where the revised decision does not give the claimant the level of award they were seeking on appeal the appeal will not be lapsed without agreement from the claimant and, where appropriate, their representative, either by telephone or in writing.
The revision (and lapse) can be on any ground which has the effect of changing the decision in the claimant’s favour. Each case is considered on its own merits which of course means that the numbers lapsed will vary over time.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for how many appeals against decisions for (a) Employment Support Allowance, (b) Universal Credit and (c) Personal Independence Payment did her Department lapse or concede on the day of the Tribunal.
Answered by Chloe Smith
The department does not lapse appeals on the day of a tribunal hearing. Where new evidence has become available after an appeal has been lodged but before it has been heard at a tribunal such that DWP can change the decision and lapse the appeal, this will always take place in advance of a hearing.
Where new evidence becomes available on the day of the hearing and a Presenting Officer from the Department is in attendance, they are able to make concessions in light of the new evidence. The tribunal will then take the concessions into account during their decision-making process. The department does not hold information on the number of cases in which concessions were made.
Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many Social Security and Child Support Tribunal cases relating to Universal Credit have taken place each year for the last five years; and how much those cases cost her Department.
Answered by Chloe Smith
Information on appeal tribunal volumes in relation to Social Security and Child Support Tribunal cases (SSCS) is available on - Tribunal Statistics Quarterly: January to March 2022 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) – Main Tables, SSCS_3.
The only DWP staff who attend actual Tribunals are Presenting Officers.
The information for the financial years covered by the request for all SSCS tribunals are detailed in the tables below:
2017/18 | 2018/19 | 2019/20 | 2020/21 | 2021/22 |
£7.93m | £7.16m | £6.47m | £1.45m | £5.77m |
The information for the financial years covered by the request for Universal Credit are detailed in the tables below:
2017/18 | 2018/19 | 2019/20 | 2020/21 | 2021/22 |
| £0.08m | £0.19m | £0.15m | £0.72m |
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.
Costs provided are for Presenting Officers only and excludes Admin Support or Decision Making operational staff dealing with the 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.
Presenting Officer costs are not held for 2017/18 following the introduction of the UC benefit. 2020/21 figures impacted by COVID.
Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many Social Security and Child Support Tribunal cases have taken place each year for the last five years; and how much those cases cost her Department.
Answered by Chloe Smith
Information on appeal tribunal volumes in relation to Social Security and Child Support Tribunal cases (SSCS) is available on - Tribunal Statistics Quarterly: January to March 2022 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) – Main Tables, SSCS_3.
The only DWP staff who attend actual Tribunals are Presenting Officers.
The information for the financial years covered by the request for all SSCS tribunals are detailed in the tables below:
2017/18 | 2018/19 | 2019/20 | 2020/21 | 2021/22 |
£7.93m | £7.16m | £6.47m | £1.45m | £5.77m |
The information for the financial years covered by the request for Universal Credit are detailed in the tables below:
2017/18 | 2018/19 | 2019/20 | 2020/21 | 2021/22 |
| £0.08m | £0.19m | £0.15m | £0.72m |
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.
Costs provided are for Presenting Officers only and excludes Admin Support or Decision Making operational staff dealing with the 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.
Presenting Officer costs are not held for 2017/18 following the introduction of the UC benefit. 2020/21 figures impacted by COVID.
Asked by: Kate Osamor (Independent - Edmonton)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many appeals relating to (a) Employment Support Allowance, (b) Personal Independence Payments and (c) Universal Credit lapsed in each month from January 2010 to July 2022.
Answered by Chloe Smith
A lapsed appeal is where DWP changed the decision (in the customer’s favour) after an appeal was lodged but before it was heard at a tribunal hearing.
The information requested for Employment and Support Allowance is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
The information on the number of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) appeals lapsed between the earliest month October 2013 and the latest available month March 2022 is given below:
Appeal Clearance Month | Number of PIP Appeals Lapsed |
October 2013 | 0 |
November 2013 | 0 |
December 2013 | 10 |
January 2014 | 10 |
February 2014 | 20 |
March 2014 | 30 |
April 2014 | 50 |
May 2014 | 50 |
June 2014 | 50 |
July 2014 | 60 |
August 2014 | 50 |
September 2014 | 70 |
October 2014 | 100 |
November 2014 | 200 |
December 2014 | 210 |
January 2015 | 250 |
February 2015 | 270 |
March 2015 | 370 |
April 2015 | 370 |
May 2015 | 380 |
June 2015 | 430 |
July 2015 | 320 |
August 2015 | 210 |
September 2015 | 240 |
October 2015 | 240 |
November 2015 | 290 |
December 2015 | 250 |
January 2016 | 270 |
February 2016 | 260 |
March 2016 | 220 |
April 2016 | 300 |
May 2016 | 380 |
June 2016 | 360 |
July 2016 | 350 |
August 2016 | 410 |
September 2016 | 410 |
October 2016 | 470 |
November 2016 | 570 |
December 2016 | 510 |
January 2017 | 850 |
February 2017 | 750 |
March 2017 | 930 |
April 2017 | 760 |
May 2017 | 820 |
June 2017 | 840 |
July 2017 | 810 |
August 2017 | 890 |
September 2017 | 810 |
October 2017 | 810 |
November 2017 | 910 |
December 2017 | 790 |
January 2018 | 1190 |
February 2018 | 1190 |
March 2018 | 920 |
April 2018 | 750 |
May 2018 | 930 |
June 2018 | 940 |
July 2018 | 1230 |
August 2018 | 1320 |
September 2018 | 1460 |
October 2018 | 1560 |
November 2018 | 1580 |
December 2018 | 1180 |
January 2019 | 1830 |
February 2019 | 1590 |
March 2019 | 2120 |
April 2019 | 2340 |
May 2019 | 3510 |
June 2019 | 3150 |
July 2019 | 2640 |
August 2019 | 2510 |
September 2019 | 1890 |
October 2019 | 1780 |
November 2019 | 2450 |
December 2019 | 1870 |
January 2020 | 2840 |
February 2020 | 2640 |
March 2020 | 2310 |
April 2020 | 2110 |
May 2020 | 1880 |
June 2020 | 1980 |
July 2020 | 2350 |
August 2020 | 2270 |
September 2020 | 3020 |
October 2020 | 3070 |
November 2020 | 3700 |
December 2020 | 2110 |
January 2021 | 2370 |
February 2021 | 2090 |
March 2021 | 2570 |
April 2021 | 2260 |
May 2021 | 1720 |
June 2021 | 1340 |
July 2021 | 1350 |
August 2021 | 1390 |
September 2021 | 1900 |
October 2021 | 1570 |
November 2021 | 1230 |
December 2021 | 1220 |
January 2022 | 1690 |
February 2022 | 1590 |
March 2022 | 1930 |
Data has been rounded to the nearest 10. Totals are for Great Britain.
PIP appeals data has been taken from the DWP PIP computer system’s management information. Therefore, this data may differ from that held by Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service for various reasons such as delays in data recording and other methodological differences in collating and preparing statistics.
The information on the number of Universal Credit (UC) appeals lapsed between the earliest month available of April 2016 and the most recent month available March 2022 is given below:
Appeal Clearance Month | Number of UC Appeals Lapsed |
April 2016 | 60 |
May 2016 | 20 |
June 2016 | 20 |
July 2016 | 20 |
August 2016 | 40 |
September 2016 | 40 |
October 2016 | 30 |
November 2016 | 10 |
December 2016 | 20 |
January 2017 | 10 |
February 2017 | 20 |
March 2017 | 50 |
April 2017 | 40 |
May 2017 | 30 |
June 2017 | 60 |
July 2017 | 40 |
August 2017 | 30 |
September 2017 | 30 |
October 2017 | 50 |
November 2017 | 50 |
December 2017 | 40 |
January 2018 | 60 |
February 2018 | 90 |
March 2018 | 50 |
April 2018 | 30 |
May 2018 | 20 |
June 2018 | 30 |
July 2018 | 20 |
August 2018 | 40 |
September 2018 | 30 |
October 2018 | 20 |
November 2018 | 20 |
December 2018 | 10 |
January 2019 | 30 |
February 2019 | 10 |
March 2019 | 10 |
April 2019 | 10 |
May 2019 | 30 |
June 2019 | 100 |
July 2019 | 130 |
August 2019 | 190 |
September 2019 | 390 |
October 2019 | 520 |
November 2019 | 520 |
December 2019 | 480 |
January 2020 | 610 |
February 2020 | 410 |
March 2020 | 230 |
April 2020 | 200 |
May 2020 | 270 |
June 2020 | 310 |
July 2020 | 430 |
August 2020 | 370 |
September 2020 | 260 |
October 2020 | 230 |
November 2020 | 190 |
December 2020 | 150 |
January 2021 | 240 |
February 2021 | 300 |
March 2021 | 320 |
April 2021 | 200 |
May 2021 | 170 |
June 2021 | 210 |
July 2021 | 170 |
August 2021 | 180 |
September 2021 | 210 |
October 2021 | 180 |
November 2021 | 210 |
December 2021 | 200 |
January 2022 | 230 |
February 2022 | 190 |
March 2022 | 260 |
Data has been rounded to the nearest 10. Totals are for Great Britain.
UC data has been taken from on the Decision Makers and Case recorder dataset (DMACR). Therefore, this data may differ from that held by Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service for various reasons such as delays in data recording and other methodological differences in collating and preparing statistics. A significant analytical investment has already been made into understanding and assuring the UC data from this source.
Asked by: Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat - North East Fife)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department is taking steps to (a) collect and (b) evaluate evidence in order to understand the reasons for successful Mandatory Reconsiderations.
Answered by Chloe Smith
The reasons for successful Mandatory Reconsiderations are not collated centrally.
Whilst evaluation does take place at a local level on a case by case basis, and we will continue to build on this, the Department’s overarching focus at the MR stage is on ensuring that each application is thoroughly reviewed, including as necessary contacting the claimant, so that it achieves its goal of making the right decision at the earliest opportunity.