Ministers spent £37 million in just eight months defending a torrent of appeals against decisions to strip people of benefits.
The flood came after the Government made people claiming Employment and Support Allowance take a work capability assessment to see if they were able to get a job.
But new official figures show between April and December last year, the Government faced 163,250 appeals from individuals who lost benefits after taking the test. In total, 140,495 went on to be fought out at a tribunal, with the Government winning 57 per cent — 80,305 cases, while 59,493 claimants won their appeals.
Harrow West Labour MP Gareth Thomas said the high number of successful appeals exposed flaws in assessment. “The system is clearly not working as it stands… vulnerable people are caused immense distress by having their application refused only to then win it on appeal,” he said. “Considerable resources are being taken up which could be used to target the small number of people genuinely undertaking benefit fraud, rather than those legitimately entitled to support.”
But new official figures show between April and December last year, the Government faced 163,250 appeals from individuals who lost benefits after taking the test. In total, 140,495 went on to be fought out at a tribunal, with the Government winning 57 per cent — 80,305 cases, while 59,493 claimants won their appeals.
Harrow West Labour MP Gareth Thomas said the high number of successful appeals exposed flaws in assessment. “The system is clearly not working as it stands… vulnerable people are caused immense distress by having their application refused only to then win it on appeal,” he said. “Considerable resources are being taken up which could be used to target the small number of people genuinely undertaking benefit fraud, rather than those legitimately entitled to support.”
