Lord Beecham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Beecham on 2016-05-18.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is (1) the role, and (2) the annual cost, of presenting officers employed by the Department for Work and Pensions in relation to benefit appeals.

Baroness Altmann

The role of the Presenting Officer is to present the Department’s case effectively thereby helping the tribunal reach the right decisions and to gather feedback from the tribunal for its decision makers.

The year to date costs for existing DWP Presenting Officers (to January 2016) is approx. £1.5m.