PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Social Security Benefits: North West (11 March 2019)

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many successful appeals there have been against decisions on (a) employment and support allowance and (b) personal independence payment claims in (a) Wallasey, (b) Wirral, (c) Liverpool city region and (d) the North West in each year since 2010.

Asked by:
Dame Angela Eagle (Labour)

Employment and Support Allowance

Information on appeal outcomes in relation to Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) Work Capability Assessments by several geographical areas is available on Stat-Xplore. This includes data at Regional, Parliamentary Constituency or Local Authority level as requested above.

https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/

Guidance on how to use Stat-Xplore can be found here:

https://sw.stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/index.html

The mandatory reconsideration process was introduced in 2013. The latest available information for Great Britain on the number of mandatory reconsiderations can be found in the ESA Outcomes of Work Capability Assessments quarterly statistics published here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/employment-and-support-allowance-outcomes-of-work-capability-assessment

It is the intention to produce further geographical breakdowns of these statistics in the future.

Between April 2014 and June 2018, 3.7m ESA (post WCA) decisions have been made in Great Britain, of these 8% have been appealed and 4% have been overturned.

Personal Independence Payment

The information requested for Personal Independence Payment (PIP) Appeals in a) Wallasey b) Wirral c) Liverpool City Region and d) the North West is shown in the table below, by year of appeal clearance.

Wallasey	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018 (Jan - Sept)
Decision Maintained	10	40	60	80	70
Decision Overturned at Appeal	10	80	100	150	180
Appeal Overturn Rate	55%	65%	61%	66%	73%

From 2014 through to September 2018 in Wallasey, of the 770 appeals, 520 (67%) saw the decision overturned. Since PIP was introduced up to September 2018 9,180 initial decisions have been made in Wallasey and 6% have been overturned at appeal.

Wirral	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018 (Jan - Sept)
Decision Maintained	30	140	200	240	200
Decision Overturned at Appeal	30	240	330	490	500
Appeal Overturn Rate	53%	64%	63%	67%	71%

From 2014 through to September 2018 in Wirral, of the 2,400 appeals, 1,600 (66%) saw the decision overturned. Since PIP was introduced up to September 2018 29,320 initial decisions have been made in Wirral and 5% have been overturned at appeal.

Liverpool City Region	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018 (Jan - Sept)
Decision Maintained	120	540	950	1,060	720
Decision Overturned at Appeal	130	850	1,660	2,340	2,140
Appeal Overturn Rate	53%	61%	64%	69%	75%

From 2014 through to September 2018 in Liverpool City Region, of the 10,500 appeals, 7,110 (68%) saw the decision overturned. Since PIP was introduced up to September 2018, 146,380 initial decisions have been made in Liverpool City region and 5% have been overturned at appeal.

The North West	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018 (Jan - Sept)
Decision Maintained	300	2,430	3,840	4,070	2,650
Decision Overturned at Appeal	320	2,990	5,490	7,440	6,770
Appeal Overturn Rate	51%	55%	59%	65%	72%

From 2014 through to September 2018 in the North West, of the 36,310 appeals, 23,010 (63%) saw the decision overturned. Since PIP was introduced up to September 2018 537,600 initial decisions have been made in the North West and 4% have been overturned at appeal.

Since PIP was introduced 3.7m decisions have been made in Great Britain up to September 2018, of these 10% have been appealed and 5% have been overturned.

The information requested for Personal Independence Payment Mandatory Reconsiderations (MR) in a) Wallasey b) Wirral c) Liverpool City Region and d) the North West is shown in the table below, by year of MR clearance.

Wallasey	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018 (Jan - Oct)
New Decision – Award Changed at MR	40	90	130	170	150
Decision Unchanged/Not Revised at MR	110	380	530	770	560
Percentage of MRs where the Decision was Changed	24%	19%	20%	18%	21%

Wirral	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018 (Jan - Oct)
New Decision – Award Changed at MR	120	260	370	540	470
Decision Unchanged/Not Revised at MR	310	1,160	1,730	2,360	1,650
Percentage of MRs where the Decision was Changed	27%	18%	18%	19%	22%

Liverpool City Region	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018 (Jan - Oct)
New Decision – Award Changed at MR	440	1,150	1,760	2,380	2,270
Decision Unchanged/Not Revised at MR	1,270	5,050	8,430	9,740	7,900
Percentage of MRs where the Decision was Changed	26%	19%	17%	20%	22%

The North West	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018 (Jan - Oct)
New Decision – Award Changed at MR	1,250	4,710	6,810	9,030	7,960
Decision Unchanged/Not Revised at MR	3,950	21,550	31,210	36,200	27,080
Percentage of MRs where the Decision was Changed	24%	18%	18%	20%	23%

Data has been rounded to the nearest 10.

PIP Appeals data 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.

PIP was introduced in 2013 to replace Disability Living Allowance for working age people.

The geography relates to the origin of the claim (i.e. derived from claimant’s postcode) rather than the location of where the tribunal was held.

Decisions overturned at appeal may include a number of appeals that have been lapsed (which is where DWP changed the decision after an appeal was lodged but before it was heard at Tribunal).

Some decisions which are changed at MR, and where the claimant continues to appeal for a higher PIP award, are then changed again at tribunal appeal. Therefore the number of people who had a decision changed at MR and the number of people who had a decision changed at tribunal appeal cannot be added together.

Answered by:
Justin Tomlinson (Conservative)
14 March 2019