Commons Sense

House of Commons · Ministers' Questions

Benefits: Tribunal Awards

Monday 27 January 2020 · 2 questions

Summarised by AI from the official record, so it can contain mistakes.

Read the full transcript on Parliament.uk

At a glance

Answered 2 Partly answered 0 Not answered 0

Key points

  • Philip Hollobone questioned the Minister about the number and proportion of applications for disability benefits that resulted in awards after tribunals.
  • Patricia Gibson highlighted that since PIP was introduced, 30,000 people in Scotland had to appeal their cases, with 21,000 needing to go to court to receive their correct entitlement.
  • The Minister responded by stating that significant changes were made to the mandatory reconsideration stage to proactively gather additional evidence, aiming to reduce the need for tribunals.

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Questions & Answers

Q1 Philip Hollobone Con Kettering
Benefits & Welfare
Context

The question concerns the proportion of applications for disability living allowance, employment and support allowance, and personal independence payment that were awarded by tribunals.

Question

How many and what proportion of applications for (a) disability living allowance, (b) employment and support allowance and (c) personal independence payment that were considered by a tribunal resulted in a benefit award. These numbers are far too high, and I suspect that one of the reasons that they are so high is that requisite paperwork is not provided until it reaches the tribunal stage.

Answer from Justin Tomlinson (Minister for Disabled People, Health and Work)

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. It is often the case that additional written and oral evidence is presented at the tribunal stage, which is why we have made significant changes to the mandatory reconsideration stage where we proactively contact claimants to try to assist in gathering that data. We rolled that out halfway through last year. It is now in all the mandatory reconsideration assessments, and we have seen a significant uplift in the number of appeals overturned at the MR stage, and that is a good thing.

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Q2 Patricia Gibson SNP Greenock and Inverclyde
Benefits & Welfare
Context

The question addresses the challenges faced by individuals in Scotland who have had to undergo appeals for their personal independence payment claims.

Question

Since PIP was introduced, 30,000 people in Scotland have had to undergo stressful appeals, with 21,000 people having to go to court to receive their correct entitlement. Will the Minister's Department overhaul the PIP assessment so that it works for disabled people, and not against them?

Answer from Justin Tomlinson (Minister for Disabled People, Health and Work)

I have just set out the answer. The hon. Lady does not need to wait. We actually made significant changes last year to gather that missing additional written and oral evidence proactively, making a huge difference, and we will continue to work with claimants, stakeholders and organisations to identify other areas to improve the experience.

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