A report by the Tribunals Service admits that they can’t keep pace with the number of PIP appeals.
The ‘Senior President of Tribunals’ Annual Report’ admits that “the rapid rise in appeal numbers has outstripped our ability to recruit and train sufficient numbers of panel members to keep pace”.
Appeal numbers plummeted in 2013, from a high of over half a million, after the DWP introduced its cynical mandatory reconsideration hurdle.
However, numbers are on the rise again, more than doubling from 112,000 in 2014 to 238,000 in 2018.
To try to cope, the Tribunals Service appointed 130 new judges, 225 medically qualified members and 125 disability qualified members last year.
They are also trying other methods to reduce the backlog, including cramming more PIP appeals into each session and trying to resolve more cases before they reach a hearing.
But the one thing that would really cut their workload - the DWP getting more decisions right - is unlikely to happen any time soon.
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Bananas5
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8 Replies
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Absolutely , if they looked into things properly a lot of appeals wouldn't be needed , some of these people who have to appeal is shocking when you hear about their cases , the people who make these mistakes should be accounted for .
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Yes, I totally agree with you. I read if one case where they said the gentleman wasn't poorly enough to receive anything, he had terminal cancer. He sadly died not long after, DWP were informed and yet his brother still got a letter stating that he must attend next appointment ! How distressing thus must be for his family and friends. They were going through a bad enough time without this adding to it. Sorry to go on but it made me so angry. Love and hugs Lynne xxxx
In the early days of DLA being abolished and PIP being introduced DWP said it was due to the DLA forms being too long and complicated.
We knew this was rubbish.
Eventually they admitted it was going to be a cost cutting exercise to save 20% of total bill. That never happened as people really were chronically sick or disabled.
It is a sad state of affairs that our DWP staff cannot get it right but we Joe public have to or off to court you go for fraud. When will they wake upto the fact that these benefits are based on how your illness effects your daily living. Not on how severe or unsevere it is and that things like not having normal use of a limb for instance totally impairs many aspects of life including tolerating the onslaught of their system and peoples attitude to what constitutes disability, which is totally different to whether you are able to work or not. Cramming more PIP claims into time allocated can only result in mistakes being made I would think resulting in more paper work to put it right.
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