Sudden drop in ESA appeals?

“In an interview on Radio Devon today (11/01), Chris Grayling, stated that since the changes were introduced to the WCA “almost no appeals have taken place”.

I had to laugh when I saw this Steve!  Not least because I managed to get some BBC TV coverage on Spotlight last week over what seems to me to be something of an ‘explosion’ in ESA appeals!  It must be entirely down to my imagination that every case which comes through the door seems to be yet another ESA catastrophe; - one shudders to think what it will be like when they really get going on PIP and UC.  Let the calamity begin!  It’s strange how the annual accounts of Tribunals Service and DWP all address it with increasing concern. 

Perhaps Mr. Grayling would care to look at the figures, not just the latest Tribunals Service quarterly report which selectively highlights key facts; - with an emphasis on how extra judicial staff have to been taken on to deal with the additional workload. The new WCA changes simply haven’t had enough time to reach DM’s hidden behind piles of yet to be decided files.

I’ll dig out the footage.  I’ll be back at the next Torbay forum by the way.

The January 2012 statistical release seems to show that a very large number of appeals are going missing - they are lodged but then there seems to be no further communication.  I was talking today to CAB workers who were expressing concern about disapearing ESA50s, submitted evidence going missing and responses not being received.  Is this a more general experience?

Oh I rather suspect that the apparent ‘drop’ in ESA appeals is because the parliamentary spotlight is on how the figures are meant to be going down rather than up.  The 2011/2012 figures only use 4 months from July - October 2011 and they do tend to suggest the figures on appeals with the Tribunals are down on last year.  It’s an argument which would be very ‘helpful’ to our legal aid ministers who tell us our advice is only generalist rather than specialist and thus doesn’t warrant legal aid at all.  The cynic in me says it’s either a deliberate slow down in putting cases to the Tribunal or a real slow down in a backlog of ATOS assessments which appears to be accounting for 6 to 9 month delays in our area.  It’s clearly still a significant problem as we had a letter today from the Regional judge at the Cardiff centre informing us that due to the unprecedented numbers of cases they would be reluctant to alter dates of hearings to suit the availability of representatives in appeal cases.  The MOJ is desperately trying to show legal aid representation isn’t something which warrants legal aid and thinks the better alternative is to throw more money at Tribunals by increased sittings and judicial panel members.  They’ve gone so far as to produce their own ‘DIY’ video guide to ESA appellants to show how easy it is to present your own case.  There are a fair few flaws in the video and to hoodwink appellants into thinking its straightforward is a little unfair.  Plus of course the MOJ seems to be downplaying the true costs of appeals ; - they are way more than £50 million a year.

We may have won the amendment votes by the House of Lords to get legal aid back in scope for FTT & UT cases, but government is highly likely to try and overturn these changes on the grounds of financial privilege when it goes back to the House of Commons.