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<p>The data requested at a) and b) are not available centrally, and could only be
provided at disproportionate cost.</p><p> </p><p>Information about volumes and waiting
times generally for appeals to the First-tier Tribunal (Social Security and Child
Support), including Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) and Personal Independence
Payment (PIP), is published at: www.gov.uk/government/collections/tribunals-statistics.</p><p>
</p><p>To improve clearance times, additional fee-paid judicial office holders have
been recruited: 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 are being conducted, in order to
reduce the time taken for appeals to reach final determination. These measures will
increase the capacity of the Tribunal, with the aim of reducing waiting times for
appellants.</p><p> </p><p>HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) is also developing
a new digital system with a view to enabling speedier processing of appeals and a
better service for all parties to the proceedings. Information on the new digital
service can be found at www.gov.uk/appeal-benefit-decision.</p><p> </p><p>Finally,
HMCTS is 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>
</p><p>Latest figures (between April 2014 – September 2018) indicate that 3.9m ESA
(post WCA) decisions have been made. Of these, 8% have been appealed and 4% have been
overturned. For PIP, the latest figures (to December 2018) indicate that since it
was introduced, 3.9 million decisions have been made. Of these 10% have been appealed
and 5% have been overturned at Tribunals.</p>
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