Justice written question – answered at on 12 October 2011.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many staff were employed by the Tribunals Service to deal with appeals against work capability assessment decisions in each month of (a) 2010 and (b) 2011.
Her Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) hears appeals against Department for Work and Pensions decisions on entitlement to Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) (decisions in which the work capability assessment is a key factor) rather than appeals against work capability assessment decisions themselves.
It is not possible to identify how many staff deal specifically with ESA appeals. The following table shows the number of staff employed by the Social Security and Child Support (SSCS) tribunal (the lowest level to which the figures can be broken down) as at the end of each month between January 2010 and June 2011 (the latest period for which published figures are available). The tribunal hears appeals on a range of benefits, of which ESA is one. There was an increase in headcount of 236 over the time period. Of this, 68 were permanent staff and 168 staff on fixed term contracts. HMCTS disposed of 37,200 SSCS appeals in June 2011, up 55% from 24,100 in January 2010.
Social Security and Child Support tribunal staff numbers January 2010 to June 2011 | |
Number of staff (1) | |
January 2010 | 794 |
February 2010 | 791 |
March 2010 | 789 |
April 2010 | 786 |
May 2010 | 800 |
June 2010 | 815 |
July 2010 | 824 |
August 2010 | 847 |
September 2010 | 847 |
October 2010 | 886 |
November 2010 | 891 |
December 2010 | 912 |
January 2011 | 958 |
February 2011 | 958 |
March 2011 | 984 |
April 2011 | 1,013 |
May 2011 | 1,029 |
June 2011 | 1,030 |
(1) The data is taken from management information. The figures quoted refer to the total number of people employed and includes those who work part-time or on a full-time basis and on temporary or fixed-term contacts. Some of the staff included may work in multi-jurisdictional centres dealing with other work as well as social security and child support appeals. |
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