Employment and Support Allowance: Appeals
Justice
Natascha Engel (North East Derbyshire, Labour)
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many hearings for appeals against refusal of employment and support allowance which have been upheld were (a) paper hearings where the appellant was not in attendance, (b) hearings with the appellant in attendance but without representation and (c) hearings with the appellant in attendance with representation since the introduction of that allowance.
Helen Grant (Maidstone and The Weald, Conservative)
Appeals against decisions made by the Department for Work and Pensions on an individual's entitlement to employment and support allowance (ESA) are heard by the first-tier tribunal (social security and child support).
The following table shows the number of upheld ESA appeals where (a) the appellant/representative was not in attendance, (b) the appellant was in attendance but without representation and (c) the appellant was in attendance with representation since the introduction of that allowance. Appeals can be made against elements of an ESA award made, such as the rate of entitlement, as well as against the decision to refuse ESA. These appeals are included in the figures provided as follows.
| Upheld employment and support allowance appeals | |||||
| 2008-09 | 2009-10 | 2010-11 | 2011-12 | ||
| (a) | Total number of hearings where the appellant/representative was not in attendance | 40 | 16,600 | 41,600 | 45,400 |
| Appeals upheld where the appellant/representative was not in attendance | (1)0 | 2,200 | 6,700 | 6,800 | |
| (b) | Total number of hearings where appellant was in attendance without representation | (1)0 | 16,800 | 40,200 | 62,300 |
| Appeals upheld where the appellant was in attendance without representation | (1)0 | 9,400 | 23,300 | 35,800 | |
| (c) | Total number of hearings where the appellant was in attendance with representation | (1)0 | 8,500 | 18,200 | 23,700 |
| Appeals upheld with the appellant in attendance with representation | (1)0 | 6,000 | 12,900 | 16,800 | |
| (1) Employment and support allowance (ESA) was introduced on 27 October 2008, replacing incapacity benefit. There were therefore only a very small number of appeals in 2008-09. | |||||
The data are sourced from published statistics, and management information Values of 1,000 and over are rounded to the nearest hundred.