Volume of social security and child support appeal receipts down by more than 50 per cent on pre-Covid-19 baseline

New MoJ statistics also show that mean age of case at disposal in April to June 2021 was 39 weeks, nine weeks more than in same quarter of 2019

The volume of social security and child support appeal receipts is down by more than 50 per cent on the pre-Covid-19 baseline, according to new Ministry of Justice (MoJ) statistics.

Introducing Tribunal Statistics Quarterly, April to June 2021, which sets out data on the work of tribunals including the Social Security and Child Support (SSCS) tribunal, the MoJ says that -

'SSCS data shows volumes of disposals, receipts and outstanding cases have continued their downward trend and are still far below 2019’s pre-Covid-19 baseline. Receipts and disposals are down 10 per cent and 5 per cent respectively on last year and 56 per cent and 46 per cent below pre-Covid levels, while outstanding cases have fallen much lower (by 54 per cent) when compared to last year and 67 per cent below the 2019 baseline. We expect receipts will return to pre-Covid levels later this year as government support comes to an end.'

Providing further details of the work of the SSCS tribunal, the MoJ says that -

• of the 28,000 disposals in April to June 2021, 64 per cent were cleared at a hearing and, of these, 62 per cent had the initial decision revised in favour of the claimant (down from 70 per cent and 77 per cent respectively in the same period in 2020);
• the 10 per cent reduction in SSCS tribunal receipts, to 19,000 appeals, when compared to April to June 2020 was driven by a 13 per cent and 23 per cent fall in personal independence payment (PIP) appeals and universal credit appeals respectively;
• PIP and universal credit appeals accounted for 61 per cent and 15 per cent of all SSCS receipts respectively in April to June 2021;
• the overturn rate varied by benefit type, with PIP at 70 per cent, disability living allowance (DLA) 65 per cent, employment and support allowance (ESA) 57 per cent, and universal credit 46 per cent;
• the overturn rate fell for PIP (by 9 per cent), DLA (8 per cent), ESA (27 per cent) and universal credit (27 per cent) on the period April to June 2020;
• there were 36,000 SSCS cases outstanding at the end of June 2021, down 54 per cent compared to the same period in 2020, and continuing a downward trend from the peak of 125,000 cases in the fourth quarter of 2017/2018; and
• of those cases disposed of by the SSCS tribunal in April to June 2021, the mean age of a case at disposal was 39 weeks, eight weeks more than for the same period in 2020 and nine weeks more than the same period in 2019.

NB - the MoJ also advises in relation to other statistics that -

'This publication does not include Employment Tribunal and Employment Appeal Tribunal data due to issues identified when these tribunals were migrated to a new operational system. The data will be made available as soon as this is resolved, and the data is quality assured.'

For more information, see Tribunal Statistics Quarterly, April to June 2021 from gov.uk