The Social Welfare Appeals Office (SWAO) has published its annual report for 2017. The SWAO provides an independent appeals service for anyone who wants to appeal a decision about their social welfare payment.
In 2017, the SWAO received 19,658 appeals which was a reduction on the 22,461 appeals for 2016.
Appeals about Working Age – Income and Employment Support schemes reduced the most. Appeals about Supplementary Welfare Allowance reduced by 33.9%, Jobseeker’s Allowance by 17.5% and appeals about Jobseeker’s Allowance means tests were down by 26.6%.
There were also reductions in the number of appeals about Illness Benefit (down 45.9%), Carer’s Allowance (down 17.7%) and Family Income Supplement (now Working Family Payment) down by 6.5%.
The number of appeals about some payments increased slightly, Disability Allowance (up 3.4%), Invalidity Pension (up 1.4%) and Domiciliary Care Allowance (up 0.1%).
You can read the full report on the Social Welfare Appeals website (pdf).