Post by nickd on Sept 1, 2011 0:36:54 GMT 1
Someone needs to speak to George
...and tell him how much his government's welfare
reforms are costing the country in benefit appeals: half a billion pounds by 2015 and those are just
for the costs of the Tribunal hearings.
And, it's all set to get a whole lot worse.
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For some time I've been trying to pin down the actual cost of a social security Tribunal hearing and the associated costs. Remember, these are just the Tribunal costs.
I've managed to find a freedom of information request which has been answered by the Tribunals Service; - they put the cost at £279; but remember this was the cost for the financial year 2008/2009. The £279 figure also refers to 'high volume low complexity cases'.
I've replicated the data request reply dated 25th June 2010 under request FOI/65431/10 in this post (see below).
This at least enables us to get some idea of the overall cost of these appeals. What we know is these appeals are not going to decrease, they are set to rise in much the same way as ESA appeals have increased by 167% since 2008 to 2010.
We know that the overall number of Social Security appeals for 2010/2011 was a staggering 418,500.
So if we apply what we know to be a fairly reliable sum (albeit an underestimate when compared with the present day) it's really a question of some simple maths to sort this one out.
with 418,500 appeals @ £279.00 per case our annual cost is an almighty £116,761,500.00 (£116.7 million per year)
Now if we assumed that the figures don't go any higher ( and I'll bet you good money they almost certainly will as we move towards more and more welfare reform) the figures would like this up to 2015:
2010/2011 -418,500 @ £279.00 = £116,761,500.00
2011/2012 -418,500 @ £279.00 = £116,761,500.00
2012/2013 -418,500 @ £279.00 = £116,761,500.00
2013/2014 -418,500 @ £279.00 = £116,761,500.00
2014/2015 -418,500 @ £279.00 = £116,761,500.00
Total
2,092,500 appeals at £583,807,500.00
That's over 2 million appeals at over half a billion pounds![/u]
This is staggering and makes an absolute mockery over how government plans to withdraw funding of around £28 million per year paid in the main to not for profit agencies for welfare benefit advice. All we get is a basic £167 per case - regardless of how long it takes, and they are cutting this to £150 in October of this year. What this government fails to understand is how we have the specialist skills to advise appellants where there is no realistic prospect of success and could quite easily save the state huge expense. We don't claim to save the state £8.80 for every £1 spent in our direction for nothing you know; these figures go some way to proving our point.
And remember in some of these appeals, the success rate is as high as 50% which means millions of pounds is being spent on completely unnecessary appeals; - they could be completely avoided if the authorities listened to us instead of disallowing decision after decision.
There is also quite an alarming reference in the response from the Ministry of Justice's Tribunal department which infers appeals are cheaper where they are heard in the absence of the appellant; - so much for the saying 'Justice must be seen to be done then' - this is truly disgusting and makes the whole sorry mess even more farcical than it already is.
And remember the £279 I have quoted is only the Tribunals cost, it doesn't include those of the authorities in preparing the case. And nor do I think the 418,500 figure for appeals for 2010/2011 will stay as low. In my post on welfare reform, I explain why I think it will be much higher.
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Here's the FOI reply:
"Re: Request under the 2000 Freedom of Information Act
Thank you for your email of 28 May, in which you sought information, held by the Tribunals Service (Ministry of Justice), under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA).
Your request has been passed to me because I have responsibility for answering requests that relate to the Tribunals Service, First–tier Tribunal (Social Entitlement Chamber), (Social Security and Child Support Appeals), and which have been handled under the FOIA.
Your request asks for information relating to Social Security and Child Support Appeal Tribunals, and specifically asks for information as follows:
1. How many appeals have been concerned with Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) in England?
2. Of these, how many appeals have been allowed (decisions of the DWP overturned)?
3. What is the total cost of the administration and hearing of all ESA appeals in England to the Tribunals Service?
4. How many ESA appeals have been heard in England by month since ESA appeals started?"
"Following a search of our paper and electronic records, I can confirm that this Department holds some information within the scope of your request however, following investigations, I must advise that the information relating to one area of your request (question 3) that asks for ‘the total cost of the administration and hearing of all ESA appeals in England to the Tribunals Service’, is not held.
This is because the databases used by the Tribunals Service (TS) do not record this type of information, broken down into the level of detail that you have requested, as there is no business need to collate such data. The high degree of apportionment of costs which would be required to produce these financial figures, particularly around elements such as staffing, accommodation and all other overheads, and the identification or extraction of relevant data would require analysis of these database records, and the creation of new statistical routines, as there is no current statistical report that would be able to produce these statistics. The FOIA does not require public authorities to create data in response to a request.
While we are unable to extract the costs relating to an individual or specific tribunal hearing or appeal type, we have, in order to assist you, calculated the overall average unit cost of clearing an appeal. This encompasses all benefit types, and is based on the overall running costs of Social Security and Child Support (SSCS) Appeals divided by the number of appeals cleared in the same financial year.
I can confirm that the average overall unit cost of processing an SSCS appeal hearing, based upon figures for the financial year 2008-2009, is £279.00, including overheads, fees and expenses. I must advise that the figures for the financial year 2009-2010 are not yet available.
This overall figure of £279.00. includes cases that are of a relatively high volume and of a low complexity - sometimes eight or more of these cases are heard in a single day so overall costs, including judicial costs, are spread accordingly. This also includes cases that do not require an oral hearing, and these are, typically, where a single judicial member reviews cases using a paper-only process, i.e. without a formal hearing taking place. The volume of such cases covered in a day is considerably higher than that of formal oral hearings, with the effect of bringing down the average cost of an appeal to that of £279.00."
So at least we have a concrete figure to go on, the true cost of all of this is just mind blowing.