Delays in hearing appeals -updated.

We are constantly being asked how long an appeal for DLA or ESA will take.

Regretfully, we don't know this information, until it appears on the Tribunals Service or DWP website, or in Hansard.

The following table shows the average time from receipt at the tribunal to disposal for DLA, IB and ESA appeals for the region served by each processing centre. The information covers 1 April 2007 to 31 October 2011, the latest period for which figures are available.

Sorry for the poor pagination, but trying to copy and paste from Hansard knocks the table for six, even using Smartwrap or a Text Editor. However, hopefully members will be able to work out the average waiting times for ESA & DLA appeals.

Any problems, post in the forum.

Average time in weeks from receipt of appeals to disposal

Please note the statistics only cover England, Scotland and Wales and not Northern Ireland. This is nothing to do with Benefits & Work, we pick up these statistics from Hansard and NI isn't included.

April 2007-March 2008
Processing centre
Disability living allowance
Incapacity benefit
Employment and support allowance
England and Wales
9.5
7.9
—
Birmingham(1) (East and West Midlands and East of England Government office regions and part London Government office region(2))
9.6
8.1
—

Cardiff (Wales and SW England)
9.0
7.5
—
Leeds (Yorkshire and Humber)
9.9
8.1
—
Liverpool (NW England)
9.5
7.9
—
Newcastle (NE England)
9.6
7.8
—
Sutton (London and SE England)
10.0
7.9
—
April 2008-March 2009
Processing centre
Disability living allowance
Incapacity benefit
Employment and support allowance
England and Wales
12.0
10.4
5.1
Birmingham (East and West Midlands and East of England Government office regions and part London Government office region(2))
12.4
11.1
10.5

Cardiff (Wales and SW England)
11.7
11.0
2.8

Leeds (Yorkshire and Humber)
12.0
9.7
3.7

Liverpool (NW England)
11.6
9.6
2.0

Newcastle (NE England)
13.0
10.7
2.0

Sutton (London and SE England)
10.4
9.0
3.3

April 2009-March 2010
Processing centre
Disability living allowance
Incapacity benefit
Employment and support allowance
England and Wales
16.3
15.4
12.7

Birmingham (East and West Midlands and East of England Government office regions and part London Government office region(2))
17.0
16.9
13.7

Cardiff (Wales and SW England)
16.3
15.9
12.8

Leeds (Yorkshire and Humber)
12.8
11.6
10.0

Liverpool (NW England)
17.4
14.6
12.2

Newcastle (NE England)
17.5
14.9
13.3

Sutton (London and SE England)
14.7
16.0
13.1

April 2010-March 2011
Processing centre
Disability living allowance
Incapacity benefit
Employment and support allowance
England and Wales
22.6
22.9
19.3

Birmingham (East and West Midlands and East of England Government office regions and part London Government office region(2))
24.4
26.7
22.4

Cardiff (Wales and SW England)
20.9
21.0
18.4

Leeds (Yorkshire and Humber)
20.0
19.6
17.3
Liverpool (NW England)
23.0
20.1
16.4

Newcastle (NE England)
25.6
23.2
19.6

Sutton (London and SE England)
20.5
23.1
18.7
8 Mar 2012 : Column 852W
April 2011-October 2011
Processing centre
Disability living allowance
Incapacity benefit
Employment and support allowance
England and Wales
29.4
30.8
24.8

Birmingham (East and West Midlands and East of England Government office regions and part London Government office region(2))
35.2
43.0
31.3

Cardiff (Wales and SW England)
26.3
27.7
21.5

Leeds (Yorkshire and Humber)
27.2
29.4
23.0

Liverpool (NW England)
27.7
23.1
20.3

Newcastle (NE England)
31.1
26.1
21.0

Sutton (London and SE England)
24.8
33.5
21.5

(1) Over this period the processing work for East and West Midlands region transitioned from two processing centres in Nottingham and Birmingham to one in Birmingham. As this transition distorts the data tor each processing centre the data is given for the region as a whole. (2) Covers whole of Government office region London except Hillingdon, Harrow, Barnet, Enfield, Haringey, Islington, Tower Hamlets, Newham, Barking and Dagenham, Havering, Redbridge, Waltham Forest, Hackney which are covered by Birmingham.

Notes: 1. These data are taken from management information. 2. Employment and support allowance was introduced in October 2008. 3. The England and Wales figures are not calculated from the figures given for the individual processing centres but are calculated using national data from all processing centres. As the sets of figures are calculated in different ways there may be slight discrepancies between them.

HMCTS is working hard to increase the capacity of the SSCS Tribunal and reduce waiting times. It has begun using additional hearing rooms; increased the number of cases listed in each session; increased the number of sessions held; streamlined its administrative processes; started running double shifts in its largest processing centre so that more appeals can be processed each day; started running Saturday sittings in some of the busiest venues (where there is demand and where it is feasible); set up a customer contact centre to deal with telephone enquiries for the processing sites, freeing up other staff to focus on processing appeals and arranging hearings; and recruited more judges and panel members to hear more appeals.

All of this is having a positive effect. The number of disposals has increased significantly from 279,000 in 2009-10 to 380,000 in 2010-11 and 252,000 in the first six months of 2011-12. Disposals outstripped receipts for the 10 months between January 2011 and October 2011, and the number of cases waiting to be heard reduced by over 35,000 between April and October. The average waiting time has stabilised nationally, and is beginning to fall in many venues.

Not according to what read from the above statistics, they are increasing !

Jim Cunningham (Coventry South, Labour) To ask the Secretary of State for Justice

(1) how many complaints were received by HM Courts and Tribunal Service concerning waiting times for appeals tribunals in the latest period for which figures are available;

(2) what the average waiting time for an appeal tribunal hearing in HM Courts and Tribunal Service was in the latest period for which figures are available;

(3) what steps HM Courts and Tribunal Service intend to take to tackle backlogs in appeals tribunals.

Reply from Jonathan Djanogly (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (HM Courts Service and Legal Aid), Justice; Huntingdon, Conservative)



A unified administrative complaints procedure for Her Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) was launched in October 2011. HMCTS has received 88 complaints concerning waiting times for the SSCS Tribunal in the period October 2011 to March 2012, the latest date for which information is available (this data is taken from management information). Over the same period HMCTS disposed of 214,200 SSCS appeals.

In the period January to March 2012 (the most recent period for which statistics have been published) the average waiting time for an SSCS Tribunal hearing was 23.2 weeks, down from 23.9 weeks in the period July to September 2011.

HMCTS has continued to respond strongly to the significant increase in appeal cases received by the SSCS Tribunal. It is working hard to increase the capacity of the SSCS Tribunal and reduce waiting times. It has implemented a range of measures which include recruiting more judges and medical panel members; increasing administrative resources and streamlining processes; securing additional hearing venues across the country; increasing the number of cases listed in each Tribunal session; running double shifts in its largest processing centre; running Saturday sittings in some of the busiest venues; reviewing all information for appellants to ensure that it is as clear and comprehensive as possible, and setting up a customer contact centre to deal with telephone inquiries.

All of this is having a positive effect. The total number of disposals has increased significantly from 279,000 in 2009-10 to 380,000 in 2010-11 and 433,600 appeals in 2011-12, with the capacity for half a million disposals in 2012-13. Perhaps most notably, the Tribunal disposed of more appeals than it received in every month between January 2011 and February 2012 (14 consecutive months) and the caseload outstanding fell by 25% in 2011-12 to reach 145,000 on 31 March 2012. The average waiting time has stabilised nationally, and is beginning to fall across many venues.

Work is ongoing to increase the Tribunal's capacity further, including the recruitment of additional judges and medical members; review and continuous improvement of administrative processes both internally and between HMCTS and the Department for Work and Pensions; including implementation of Section 102 of the Welfare Reform Act 2012 which creates the opportunity for additional improvements to business processes.

Source : www.theyworkforyou.com