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<p>The information requested is provided in the table below:</p><p>SOCIAL SECURITY
& CHILD SUPPORT CLEARANCES 1<br>Period Number of clearances that exceeded 52 weeks
from receipt<br>1 April 2013 - 31 March 2014 16,161<br>1 April 2014 - 31 March 2015
12,350<br>1 April 2015 - 31 March 2016 3,100<br>1 April 2016 - 31 March 2017 4,084<br>1
April 2017 - 31 March 2018 7,330<br>1 April 2018 - 31 December 2018 2 13,162</p><p>1.
Data include hearings cleared with and without a Tribunal hearing</p><p>2. The latest
period for which data are available. Provisional data and subject to further change</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 that are
available.</p><p> </p><p><br>It is important that appeals are heard as quickly as
possible. Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) recognises there are
delays in the system and it is in the process of recruiting more judicial office holders
in order to increase capacity and help to reduce waiting times for appellants. This
includes 250 judges across the First-tier Tribunal, 125 disability qualified members
and up to 230 medical members.</p><p>In addition, we have recently launched a new
digital service with a view to enabling speedier processing of appeals. Information
on the new digital service can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/appeal-benefit-decision/submit-appeal</p><p>We
are also working with the Department for Work and Pensions to understand what could
be done to reduce the number of appeals being submitted to the Tribunal, through their
focus on improving decision-making and the mandatory reconsideration process.</p><p>These
measures will increase the capacity of the Tribunal. As a result, the number of appeals
outstanding in the Tribunal is starting to fall as the number of cases heard by the
Tribunal outweigh those sent to the Tribunal. If this continues, over time, we expect
the time it takes for the Tribunal to hear, and the age of, appeals to reduce.</p><p>The
time taken for the Tribunal to hear an appeal is mainly driven by the number of appeals
sent to the Tribunal and the capacity of the Tribunal to deal with them. The number
of appeals sent to the Tribunal is directly affected by changes in welfare policy.</p><p>The
time it takes the Tribunal to hear an appeal is calculated from the time it is sent
to the Tribunal 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 has 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>HMCTS is very sensitive to the needs
of people who may be affected by waiting times for Tribunal hearings. Tribunal staff
and judicial office-holders, are trained accordingly, with HMCTS’s reasonable adjustments
policy and practice applied where appropriate. Guidance on the policy is published
on GOV.UK. If an expedited hearing is sought, or where the Tribunal identifies a case
which might benefit from an expedited hearing, a judge or caseworker will make a decision
on the issue, taking all the circumstances of the case into account.</p><p> </p>
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