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June 12, 2023
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More than 60 per cent of social security and child support appeals cleared at a hearing in 2022/2023 were decided in favour of the claimant

New MoJ statistics also show that the majority of appeal receipts and disposals related to personal independence payment

More than 60 per cent of social security and child support appeals that were cleared at a hearing in 2022/2023 were decided in favour of the claimant, according to new Ministry of Justice (MoJ) statistics.

In Tribunal Statistics Quarterly: January March 2023, the MoJ sets out tribunals statistics for the fourth quarter of 2022/2023 and cumulative figures for the whole year, including figures in relation to the Social Security and Child Support (SSCS) tribunal.

The figures relating to the SSCS caseloads for 2022/2023 include that –

  • compared to 2021/2022, receipts, disposals and the open caseload increased by 43 per cent to 136,000, 28 per cent to 117,000 and 43 per cent to 68,000 respectively;
  • the increase in receipts was driven by increases in personal independence payment (PIP), which make up the bulk of receipts and disposals (67 per cent and 65 per cent respectively); and
  • 68 per cent of disposals were cleared at a hearing and, of these, 62 per cent had the initial decision revised in favour of the claimant (up from 62 per cent and 61 per cent respectively in 2021/22).

In relation to the three-month period January to March 2023, the figures also show that –

  • receipts increased by 13 per cent to 35,000 appeals, compared to January to March 2022, driven by increases in universal credit and PIP (by 65 per cent and 5 per cent respectively);
  • PIP and universal credit appeals accounted for 62 per cent and 23 per cent respectively of all SSCS receipts in January to March 2023;
  • of the disposals made by the SSCS tribunal, 25,000 (72 per cent) were cleared at hearing and, of these, 62% were overturned in favour of the claimant – this overturn rate varied by benefit type, with PIP at 68 per cent, disability living allowance (DLA) 59 per cent, employment and support allowance (ESA) 50 per cent, and universal credit 53 per cent; and
  • the PIP, DLA, ESA and universal credit overturn rates mostly decreased compared with January to March 2022 (PIP down 4, DLA down 4, ESA down 12 and UC down 2 percentage points).

NB – the MoJ also provides updated figures for claims in the Employment Tribunal (ET) that show that the ET received 8,100 single claims and disposed of 9,000 single claim cases in the last quarter of 2022/2023. The new figures also show that there were 37,000 single claim open cases at the end of March 2023, continuing an upward trend having passed the peak levels seen in 2009/2010 of 36,000. In relation to multiple claims, there were 15,000 receipts in the quarter, 11,000 disposals and the open caseload stood at 440,000 at the end of March 2023.

For more information, see Tribunal Statistics Quarterly: January to March 2023 – Social Security and Child Support from gov.uk