[holding answer 4 March 2010]: Information about the number and percentage of denied claims that have been appealed against and the subsequent number of successful appeals is not available.
Information about the work capability assessment for employment and support allowance claims in Great Britain is available in the Department for Work and Pension's Employment and Support Allowance: Work Capability Assessment Statistic Release (January 2010). A copy of this report is available in the Library and can be found on our website at:
http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/workingage/esa_wca/esa_wca_arc.asp
This report contains details of the number of initial assessments carried out since the introduction of employment and support allowance, a breakdown of the result of the assessment, including the fit for work decision and separate information relating to work capability assessment appeals.
The available information on attendance allowance, disability living allowance, and incapacity benefit is in the tables.
Total number of attendance allowance decisions made Number of attendance allowance claims denied Percentage of attendance allowance claims denied Total number of disability living allowance decisions made Number of disability living allowance claims denied Percentage of disability living allowance claims denied 2005-06 408,390 85,660 21 429,290 228,050 53 2006-07 387,960 78,480 20 422,550 226,170 54 2007-08 373,890 67,860 18 456,090 248,820 55 2008-09 388,220 64,060 17 466,680 252,540 54 2009-101 313,480 54,990 18 402,620 223,560 56 1 YTD January. Notes: 1. “Denied” claims has been interpreted to mean claims that have been disallowed. 2. The number of decisions made is not equal to the number of new claims made. This is because there is always a percentage of customers who make a new claim and withdraw their request before a decision can be made. The percentage of disability living allowance and attendance allowance claims denied is defined as the number of claims denied divided by the number of decisions made. Source: Management Information Reports: Report Disability Allowance (RDA) and Report Attendance Allowance (RAA) 60209 and 60205.
Total claims processed Total claims refused Percentage refused of those processed 2006-07 679,160 319,580 47 2007-08 673,770 328,130 49 2008-09 485,220 243,620 50 2009-101 *21,449 14,398 67 1 To January 2010. Notes: 1. Information is only available from 2006-07 as the MISP system holds data only from that date. 2. “Denied” claims has been interpreted as those claims refused at the new claims stage because they did not meet the criteria for incapacity benefit, i.e. they were not sick/incapacitated. This means they either did not have a medical certificate giving a reason for the incapacity from their GP therefore claimed the incorrect benefit or the sick note provided did not state an illness. These figures also include claims from those customers previously disallowed following a personal capability assessment who reclaim incapacity benefit within six months with the same condition. 3. The reduced numbers in 2009-10* are due to the introduction of employment and support allowance. Those refused as a percentage is higher as following the introduction of employment and support allowance, customers claiming incapacity benefit had to have a linking claim in order to qualify. 4. MISP is the departmental performance management, data capture and reporting tool. The statistics presented here have not been subject to the rigorous quality assurance processes that are used for official statistics and as a result they should be used with a degree of caution. Source: Management Information System Programme (MISP).
The information requested is shown in the following tables.
Disabling condition Cases in payments Arthritis 500 Muscle/Joint/Bone Disease — Blindness/Visual Disease — Stroke Related — Malignant Disease 5,100 Chest Disease 100 Back Ailments 200 Heart Disease 300 Parkinson's Disease — Diabetes Mellitus — AIDS — Multiple Sclerosis — Other 1,500
Disabling condition Cases in payments Arthritis 100 Stroke Related 100 Mental Health Causes — Malignant Disease 200 Back Ailments — Heart Disease — Frailty — Other1 36,700 1 This figure includes cases that have been identified as terminally ill cases but the main disabling condition has not been recorded. Notes: 1. Figures have been rated to agree with Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study and rounded to the nearest 100. 2. Caseload totals show the number of people in receipt of an allowance, and excludes people with entitlement where the payment has been suspended, for example if they are in hospital. Caution: The preferred statistics on benefits are now derived from 100 per cent. data sources. However, the 5 per cent. sample data still provide some detail not yet available from the 100 per cent. data sources, in particular, more complete information on the disabling condition of disability living allowance claimants. DWP recommends that, where the detail is only available on the 5 per cent. sample data, or disabling condition (DLA) is required, the proportions derived should be scaled up to the overall 100 per cent. total for the benefit. Source: Department for Work and Pensions 5 per cent. sample