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Social Entitlement Chamber

Answer

The First-tier Tribunal (Social Entitlement Chamber) comprises three separate tribunal jurisdictions: Social Security and Child Support (SSCS); Criminal Injuries Compensation (CIC); and Asylum Support (AST).

The data requested for CIC and AST are not held centrally for analysis and reporting purposes. The data requested for SSCS is set out below:

Financial Year	Longest case in weeks from lodgement to disposal1,2
2021/22	481
2022/23	610
2023/24	564
2024/25	618
2025/26	682

1.From April 2023 the SSCS Tribunal started to list cases using a new Scheduling and Listing solution. This, alongside HMCTS migrating to a new Strategic Data Platform, has resulted in some cases heard and decided using this new listing solution not currently being included in the data.

2.A small number of cases have been removed from the dataset used to calculate the longest cases as these dates have been found to have input errors, and the case did not take as long as has been recorded in the system.

The longest waiting times provided in this Answer are outliers and include cases which were stayed pending the outcome of a decision of the Supreme Court; and very complex cases which have been appealed (up to three times) to the Upper Tribunal, and then remitted to the First-tier for re-hearing. The mean waiting time in 2025/6 in SSCS was 35 weeks. As a result of this Government’s inheritance, there has been a focus over the last year on clearing older cases which will, in the short term, result in an increase in the average waiting time, as illustrated by the fact that in 2024/5, the mean waiting time was 32 weeks.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

15495

Session

2026-27

Subjects

Appeals Standards Social security benefits First-tier Tribunal Social Entitlement Chamber

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.parliament.uk