President of Appeal Tribunal Report on Standards of Decision Making by the Department 2016/17

The total number of appeals registered during the year to which this report relates was 9197, of which 1021 were monitored.

The report reveals that overall levels of incorrectness in the initial decision ranges from 0% in appeals relating to Retirement Pension, Compensation Recovery, Income Support, Disability Living Allowance, Incapacity Benefit and Maternity Allowance to 33% in Bereavement Benefit appeals. The most common reason for incorrectness was that the decision appealed against was based on insufficient facts/evidence due to inadequate investigation of the claim or revision.