This new report by Policy Exchange shines a light on an often overlooked part of the welfare system: the appeals process for Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and the Work Capability Assessment (WCA). It argues that we need to fundamentally reform our appeals process for health and disability benefits to raise decision-making quality, improve democratic accountability and ensure the support provided is both sustainable and targeted appropriately.

We have a system where more than 300,000 young people are currently supported by out-of-work benefits that carry no work-search requirement. This is around double the number five years ago. More than 3.9 million people now claim PIP, with over 1,000 people making a claim to PIP. Forecasts now show that one in eight people will claim a disability benefit by 2030.

The report demonstrates that these benefits are increasingly shaped by judicial reinterpretation rather than clear parliamentary intent. Over time, this has allowed the practical boundaries of eligibility to expand. The appeals process has become a parallel assessment system, in which new evidence is routinely introduced, and eligibility is effectively re-determined. At the same time, fragmented accountability across the Department for Work and Pensions, the Ministry of Justice and HM Treasury has weakened incentives to improve decision-making.

Key recommendations

The report calls for a reset of the appeals system, including:

• Fundamental reform of Mandatory Reconsideration, transferring it from the DWP to the Ministry of Justice and empowering judicial caseworkers to correct errors, order fresh assessments, and use machine learning tools to improve consistency and quality.
• Biennial reviews of PIP and Work Capability Assessment criteria to ensure eligibility reflects modern society, technology, and additional costs.
• Granting the Upper Tribunal the power to issue suspended remedies, forcing Parliament to actively respond to landmark rulings.
• A joint DWP–HM Courts & Tribunals Service case management system to improve transparency, performance monitoring, and accountability.
• Moving Social Security Tribunals to a “virtual by default” model, with safeguards for digitally excluded claimants.
• Reforming tribunal interpretation services so that foreign-language interpretation is ordinarily funded by appellants (with appropriate exemptions for BSL).

In a foreword to the report, Sir Robert Buckland, former Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice, warns that Parliament has allowed responsibility for welfare eligibility to drift from lawmakers to the judiciary: “Parliament must end its practice of legislating on eligibility criteria in a vague and undefined way and reclaim responsibility from the courts. The scale of discretion that has been subcontracted to judges should concern all of us who care about the proper role of the justice system.”

The report author, Jean-André Prager, remarked: “The appeals system has become a substitute for good decision-making rather than a check on it. This report argues for a reset. We need to restore parliamentary authority, improve accountability, and use technology to deliver a fairer, more sustainable system.”