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President of Appeal Tribunals Report

My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State and Lord Chancellor has today published the seventh report by the president of appeal tribunals on the standards of decisions made on behalf of the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions in cases which came before appeal tribunals. The major reasons given for appeal tribunals overturning or amending decisions were because new evidence was produced at the hearing or the tribunal took a different view of the same evidence. In his report, the president acknowledges improvements by some Department of Work and Pensions agencies, particularly the Disability and Carers Service. He also recognises the work done by the Department to improve the standards of medical reports. The Tribunal’s Service has in place a number of partnership agreements with Department for Work and Pensions agencies, who deal with benefits and make decisions on behalf of the Secretary of State, covering the interface as part of the end to end process of administering appeals. In addition to the agreements, regular meetings are held to review respective performance and discuss any issues to improve customer service. This is the first report published by the Ministry of Justice as responsibility for appeal tribunals transferred from the Department of Work and pensions from 1 April 2006. Copies of the report have been placed in the Libraries of both Houses, the Vote Office and Printed Paper Office. Copies are also available on the internet at www.tribunals.gov.uk