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Forum Home  →  Discussion  →  Disability benefits  →  Thread

DWP plans to send presenting officers to 50 per cent of all PIP tribunal hearings

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Mike Hughes
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Senior welfare rights officer - Salford City Council Welfare Rights Service

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Total Posts: 3138

Joined: 17 June 2010

I wish stats were that simple.

SamW
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Lambeth Every Pound Counts

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Based on a pretty small sample size over a short period it does feel like I am seeing more decisions changed between MR and appeal hearing. So maybe the POs are feeding back to the appeals staff what to look out for in terms of the clear-cut cases that should never have to reach a hearing.

Obviously it is still pretty poor that these incorrect decisions are being made in the first place but I guess any improvement is to be celebrated!

Mike Hughes
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Senior welfare rights officer - Salford City Council Welfare Rights Service

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Total Posts: 3138

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MR in its initial form was not great but was okay. CMs were scrambling to give any points they could in order to avoid appeals. That went out of the window with the first election after that and the commitment to reduce PIP waiting times and manage UC coming online. Quality checking staff were transferred to decision making and, unsurprisingly, the subsequent quality of MRs has been the very definition of a tick box exercise. I’ve no sense that POs are changing that especially. Indeed the last available stats on MR suggested that only 16% were being changed as opposed to the 20% odd prior to the removal of the alleged target/guidance.

I suspect, but can’t possibly know, that there’s an element of confirmation bias going on here. Lots of us have advocated over the years for the wide-scale return of POs that we must clearly want it to work. However, it could just as easily be that DWP are slowly getting their act together on quality checking MRs as it could be tribunals who have a PO in front of them appreciating how comical some of the decisions being defended really are once they’ve heard the half-baked/wholly ignorant of law and case law responses from POs. I don’t see that there’s any way what’s really going on can be confirmed one way or another.

Having said that, I await with amusement the DWP press release detailing what an enormous success it has been sending ill-trained bodies into tribunal rooms to “defend” DWP decision and prevent enhanced rate and support group awards!