Page 85 - Reforming Benefits Decision-Making

who have had two negative decisions do not think there is any point in going
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on to appeal, despite the high success rates at the Tribunal. We were told
that when claimant benefits have been stopped or refused, individuals often
put their energy into applying for other benefits instead of pursuing an appeal.
This confusion and fatigue is a particular issue for claimants with mental
health conditions or learning disabilities who find it hardest to understand the
processes, manage conversations with decision-makers and engage effectively
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without extensive support and advocacy.
Direct appeal

3.22 In light of these ongoing issues with mandatory reconsideration we
recommend that claimants should be able to appeal a benefits decision
directly to the Tribunal without first having to go through mandatory
reconsideration. However, the filing of an appeal should automatically
trigger an internal review of the decision by DWP. If the outcome of that
review is not in the claimant’s favour their appeal will proceed without
them needing to take further action. In our view this would shorten the
overall appeal process and prevent attrition of claimants with meritorious
appeals.

3.23 This would be similar to the system that was in place prior to the introduction
of mandatory reconsideration, except that appeals would not be submitted to
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the DWP but made directly to HMCTS. HMCTS’s case management
system notifies the DWP when an appeal has been made; this would be the
trigger for the DWP to conduct an internal review. The precise details of how
this would function would need to be piloted and evaluated, however, we

233 See G. McKeever, M. Simpson and C. Fitzpatrick, Destitution and Paths to Justice (see n. 3 above)
p.43; Z2K, #PeopleBeforeProcess (see n. 57 above) p. 5.
234 E. Mountbatten, ‘The revolving doors of mandatory reconsideration’ (Adviser, May/June 2015).
235 We note that under the devolved benefits system in Scotland appeals have to be made to the
Agency, who passes them on to the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland (Social Security Chamber). We
have been told that there are issues with this including instances of the Agency failing to seek the
appellant’s approval before submitting the form, where they have assisted the claimant in completing it.
The Agency’s role in submitting appeals also causes some confusion as to the independence of the
Tribunal from the Agency. This reinforces the need for appeals to go directly to the Tribunal.

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