Page 122 - Reforming Benefits Decision-Making

delivered advice would be augmented by client sided assistance providing
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practical, technical and emotional support.
4.53 The advice portal recommended above would not (at least initially) have all of
the features of the Online Advice Platform and would be focused specifically
on benefits advice provision. However, we hope that, if successful the advice
portal would provide a model for the development of a broader service with
the additional features described above.

Appealing a decision

Completing the application

4.54 As explained in Chapter 3, for UC, PIP and ESA, appellants are able to either
appeal by post or through an online application process. The online
application process is part of the broader HMCTS Reform Programme that is
currently ongoing. Although HMCTS has made clear that appellants will
continue to be able to appeal through a paper-based channel, it is expected
that across the court and tribunal system, the vast majority of cases will be
resolved online. The pandemic has accelerated many aspects of the Reform
Programme.

4.55 A survey conducted by the Administrative Justice Council found a high level
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of need for digital assistance and support to access online justice systems.
Recognising that not everybody can engage online, HMCTS has been piloting
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a ‘Digital Support’ service. Digital Support provides telephone, face-to-face

353 See, for example L. Ho and A. Fife, Pro bono legal services via video conferencing: Opportunities
and Challenges (Australian Pro Bono Centre, July 2015), pp. 3, 13 and 16. Roger Smith and Alan
Paterson also refer to a study carried out in 1996 and funded by the Nuffield Foundation, which found
that self-help kiosks set up in courts “worked best when fed, watered and tendered by living people
rather than just dumped and left in dark courthouse corners”. The report had found that the best kiosk
was one which was set up in a law library and supervised by staff. See Roger Smith and Alan Paterson,
Face to Face Legal Services and their Alternatives: Global Lessons from the Digital Revolution (2014)
p. 55-56.
354 Findings from 346 respondent organisations were that between 35 and 50 per cent of their service
suers would require digital assistance and support to access a digital justice system. D. Sechi,
Digitisation and accessing justice in the community (Administrative Justice Council, April 2020).
355 Previously known as Assisted Digital.

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