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<p>Information about waiting times for Personal Independence Payment (PIP) appeals
to 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>Average
waiting times<sup>1</sup> for PIP<sup>2</sup> appeals in Merseyside<sup>3</sup> between
April 2018 to March 2019 (the latest 12 month period for which data are available)
is included in the table below:</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p>Month</p></td><td><p>Waiting
time (in weeks)<sup>4</sup></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>April 2018</p></td><td><p>34</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>May
2018</p></td><td><p>35</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>June 2018</p></td><td><p>35</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>July
2018</p></td><td><p>34</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>August 2018</p></td><td><p>34</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>September
2018</p></td><td><p>36</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>October 2018</p></td><td><p>37</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>November
2018</p></td><td><p>37</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>December 2018</p></td><td><p>38</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>January
2019<sup>p</sup></p></td><td><p>37</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>February 2019<sup>p</sup></p></td><td><p>38</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>March
2019<sup>p</sup></p></td><td><p>36</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p><sup> 1
</sup>Waiting time is interpreted as average clearance time – time taken from appeal
receipt to outcome</p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><sup>2. </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></td></tr><tr><td><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 Merseyside region are
attributed to the following SSCS venues: Birkenhead, Liverpool & St Helens</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><sup>4.
</sup>Includes all cases cleared both with and without a tribunal hearing, in line
with the published statistics</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p><sup>p </sup>Provisional
data which are subject to change.</p><p> </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>In order to respond
to a general increase in appeal receipts, HM Courts & Tribunals Service (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>https://www.gov.uk/appeal-benefit-decision/submit-appeal</p><p>
</p><p>Latest figures for PIP (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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