Tribunal reached different conclusion on ‘substantially the same facts’ in more than 17,500 PIP decisions overturned on appeal in 2023

The table below shows the number of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) decisions overturned at Tribunal by reason between January 2021 and September 2023.

These figures are the result of a complex data match across a number of data sets. This data is unpublished data and should therefore be used with caution, as it may be subject to future revision.

To note, this information is taken from Decision Notices and recorded on the PIP computer system.

This data only provides one reason per appeal why decisions by DWP decision makers have been overturned at a tribunal hearing, and therefore may not give the full story as there may be other or multiple reasons.

Appeals data is taken from the DWP PIP computer system’s management information. Therefore, this appeal data may differ from that held by Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service for various reasons such as delays in data recording and other methodological differences in collating and preparing statistics.

As with all DWP processes, we continuously review and have made improvements to our decision-making processes to help ensure we make the right decision as early as possible in the claim journey. We have introduced a new approach to decision making at both the initial decision and the Mandatory Reconsideration stage, giving Decision Makers additional time to proactively contact customers where they think additional evidence may support the claim.

The feedback from Presenting Officers is done on a case-by-case basis and only at a local level. Whilst trends are identified to help inform future decision making – this includes feeding back to Healthcare Professionals – there are no plans to consolidate and publish the feedback in data recording and other methodological differences in collating and preparing statistics.

Summary reason DWP decision overturned at Tribunal hearing	Appeal Clearance Year
	2021	2022	2023 (up to September)
New written evidence provided at hearing	400	200	300
Cogent Oral Evidence	8,800	8,800	11,800
Reached a Different Conclusion on Substantially the Same Facts	16,300	16,700	17,500
Other	1,900	1,900	2,000

https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2024-01-22/10905