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ESA and IB appeals double in last year according to Tribunals Service statistics

And, of those appeals, 42% decided in favour of claimant

01 July, 2010

ESA and IB appeals have doubled in the last year, with 42% of those appeals being decided in favour of the claimant, according to Tribunals Service statistics for the financial year 2009/2010.

In the 'Annual Statistics for the Tribunals Service, 2009-2010', the Tribunals Service states that -

'In Social Security and Child Support, there were 339,200 receipts during 2009-2010, an increase of 40% on 2008-09 and 48% on the 2007-2008 figure. A large amount of the increase was for appeals associated with Incapacity Benefit (IB) and Employment Support Allowance (ESA), with numbers of receipts for those types doubling in the last year. IB/ESA now account for just over half of all receipts.'

In addition, the 'Quarterly Statistics for the Tribunals Service, 4th quarter 2009-2010', highlight that -

'For Social Security and Child Support (SSCS), there were 103,800 receipts in the fourth quarter of 2009-2010 – half of all cases received by the Tribunals Service. The numbers have been continually rising since the start of the 2009-2010 year. When compared with the same quarter in previous years, receipts to SSCS were 67% up on both 2008-2009 and 2007-2008.

Of those SSCS cases received in the fourth quarter of 2009-2010, 57% were for Employment Support Allowance (ESA)/Incapacity Benefit (IB) with 19% for Disability Living Allowance. The distribution of receipts by benefit has varied, e.g. for the first quarter of 2009-2010, ESA/IB benefits accounted for 40% of all SSCS receipts'

The quarterly report also shows that there were 59,200 hearing clearances in social security and child support cases over the year 2009/2010 and that, of those, 38% were in favour of the claimant. The report goes on to highlight that the proportion varied by type of benefit, with 42% of ESA/IB and 17% of jobseeker’s allowance decisions in favour of the appellant.

The Annual Statistics for the Tribunals Service, 2009-2010 and the Quarterly Statistics for the Tribunals Service, 4th quarter 2009-2010 are available from the Tribunals Service website.