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<p>Information about the volumes, outcomes, and timeliness of appeals in the First-tier
Tribunal (Social Security and Child Support) (SSCS) is published at:</p><p>www.gov.uk/government/collections/tribunals-statistics</p><p>
</p><p>SSCS appeals are listed into the hearing venue nearest to the appellant’s home
address. The published data (which can be viewed at the link above) provide information
about the outcomes and timeliness of Personal Independence Payment (PIP), Employment
Support Allowance (ESA) and Universal Credit (UC) appeals for hearing venues covering
(a) Coventry, (b) the West Midlands and (c) England for the period January – March
2019, the latest period for which data are available.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The tables
below contain the requested information for (iii) Income Support (IS), (iv) Job Seekers
Allowance (JSA) and (v) Tax Credits:</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><p>Proportion<sup>1</sup>
of appeals decided in favour of the appellant for the period January to March 2019
(the latest period for which data are available)</p></td></tr><tr><td><p> </p></td><td><p>IS</p></td><td><p>JSA</p></td><td><p>Tax
Credits<sup>2</sup></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Coventry</p></td><td><p>~</p></td><td><p>~</p></td><td><p>~</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>West
Midlands<sup>3</sup></p></td><td><p>28%</p></td><td><p>~</p></td><td><p>20%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>England<sup>4</sup></p></td><td><p>45%</p></td><td><p>32%</p></td><td><p>34%</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p>
</p><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><p>Average length of time to administer appeals
(in weeks) for the period January to March 2019 (the latest period for which data
are available)</p></td></tr><tr><td><p> </p></td><td><p>IS</p></td><td><p>JSA</p></td><td><p>Tax
Credits<sup>2</sup></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Coventry</p></td><td><p>42</p></td><td><p>37</p></td><td><p>20</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>West
Midlands<sup>3</sup></p></td><td><p>44</p></td><td><p>31</p></td><td><p>19</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>England<sup>4</sup></p></td><td><p>30</p></td><td><p>26</p></td><td><p>22</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p>
</p><p>As at March 2019 (the latest period for which data are available) there were
a total of 625 PIP<sup>5</sup> appeals waiting to be listed<sup>6</sup> in the Coventry
venue; 4660 in the West Midlands<sup>3</sup>; and 35,091 in England<sup>4</sup>.</p><p>
</p><p><sup>1. </sup>Proportion based on the number of cases found in favour of the
appellant at a tribunal hearing, as a percentage of the cases heard at a tribunal
hearing</p><p><sup>2. </sup>Includes Working Family Tax Credit, Child Tax Credit,
Working Tax Credit.</p><p><sup>3. </sup>SSCS data are recorded by the office that
dealt with the case, and if the case went to oral hearing, the location of the tribunal
hearing, normally the hearing venue nearest to the appellant’s home address. Cases
relating to the West Midlands region are attributed to the following SSCS venues:
Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Walsall, Coventry, Nuneaton, Stoke, Shrewsbury, Hereford
and Worcester.</p><p><sup>4. </sup>Excludes SSCS Scotland Region and Wales Region.</p><p><sup>5.
</sup>Personal Independence Payment (New Claim Appeals), which is replacing Disability
Living Allowance was introduced on 8 April 2013, also includes Disability Living Allowance
Reassessed cases.</p><p><sup>6. </sup>Appeals waiting to be listed are those awaiting
a tribunal hearing date, and may include cases previously adjourned, postponed or
those waiting to be reheard as directed by the Upper Tribunal.</p><p>~ Equates to
a value of fewer than 5</p><p>Although care is taken when processing and analysing
the data, the details are subject to inaccuracies inherent in any large-scale case
management system and are the best data available.</p><p>The data may differ slightly
to that of the published statistics as these data were run on a different date.</p><p>
</p><p>Decisions on benefit entitlement can be overturned on appeal for a variety
of reasons. For instance, further evidence, including evidence in the form of oral
testimony, may be provided at the hearing. HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS)
cannot comment on decisions made by independent tribunal judiciary.</p><p>Waiting
times are calculated from receipt of an appeal to its final disposal. An appeal is
not necessarily disposed of at its first hearing. The final disposal decision on the
appeal may be reached after 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.</p><p> </p><p>HMCTS
has been working with the judiciary to reduce waiting times for appeals and has appointed
additional judges and panel members. This includes 250 judges across the First-tier
Tribunal, 125 disability qualified members and up to 230 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.</p><p> </p><p>In addition,
we have recently launched a new digital service with a view to enabling speedier processing
of appeals and provide a better service for all parties to the proceedings. Information
on the new digital service can be found at:</p><p>www.gov.uk/appeal-benefit-decision/submit-appeal</p><p>
</p><p>Latest figures (to March 2019) indicate that since PIP was introduced, 4.1
million decisions have been made, and of these, 10% have been appealed and 5% have
been overturned at Tribunals. For ESA (post Work Capability Assessment) to December
2018, 4.1m decisions have been made and of these 8% have been appealed and 4% have
been overturned.</p>
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