Incapacity Benefit (Hansard, 21 May 1996)

§ Mr. Burt

This is a matter for Peter Mathison, the chief executive of the Benefits Agency. He will write to the hon. Member.

Letter from Peter Mathison to Mr. George Foulkes, dated 20 May 1996:

The Secretary of State for Social Security has asked me to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking what was the percentage success rate for applications for Incapacity Benefit (IB) at each Benefit Agency (BA) office in Scotland for each month up to the most recent available; what was the number of appeals against refusal; and what percentage were successful in each case.

The attached tables give details of the percentage success rate for applications for IB at each BA office in Scotland. The information requested for the number of appeals against refusal on application and the percentage that are successful is not available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

I hope you find this reply helpful.

The following table shows the percentage of successful (applications) claims to incapacity benefit for 1995–96. These decisions are made prior to the application of the IB all work test.

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Local office	May	June	July	August	September	October	November	December	January	February	March
Glasgow Laurieston
Glasgow Laurieston	52.8	58.9	54.5	47.2	55.8	53.8	51.9	55.0	58.9	55.1	46.7
East Kilbride	71.1	66.3	63.8	65.9	67.9	67.1	68.1	70.8	71.7	63.6	66.1
Glasgow South West
Glasgow South West
West	55.7	53.1	56.5	54.5	51.8	51.9	56.6	51.4	61.9	52.8	55.7
Glasgow Springburn and Cumbernauld
Glasgow Springburn	67.1	58.0	50.9	53.9	54.7	62.5	57.4	52.2	66.7	60.4	49.6
Glasgow Cumbernauld	70.9	71.0	64.5	71.1	69.0	68.3	69.9	67.1	72.7	69.4	68.5
Glasgow West
Glasgow Anniesland	42.9	50.0	53.9	49.3	51.8	45.9	43.0	54.7	58.1	50.4	50.0
Glasgow Patrick	58.5	56.4	56.0	52.8	46.5	48.9	44.1	47.1	54.1	50.9	47.8
Grampian and Shetland
Aberdeen	71.8	65.8	63.3	67.8	65.3	66.1	58.5	65.8	63.9	60.3	61.5
Lerwick	83.3	79.1	77.7	82.2	80.5	66.7	73.0	73.9	73.3	77.8	70.3
Peterhead	69.1	69.6	63.3	69.2	65.1	64.4	66.9	66.9	64.8	65.7	65.6
Highlands and Islands
Inverness	67.5	57.1	54.7	53.4	59.7	55.1	59.1	59.6	61.3	59.6	66.0
Elgin	65.6	62.5	53.9	62.5	62.3	63.5	55.2	66.4	64.2	61.3	64.5
Fort William	60.0	58.8	47.6	61.7	61.7	56.5	63.0	59.6	57.1	51.3	52.8
Kirkwall	68.0	61.1	69.6	46.4	78.4	41.4	69.7	70.8	63.3	63.6	54.5
Stornoway	56.5	65.8	76.1	59.1	57.9	80.0	67.4	82.6	80.0	42.1	45.8
Wick	60.0	62.5	60.3	75.6	50.0	66.7	62.9	67.9	47.8	61.8	71.4
Irwine and Kilmarnock
Irwine	61.6	54.2	58.5	55.8	59.2	61.5	57.9	61.9	64.0	59.4	60.3
Kilmarnock	66.7	57.7	60.2	65.2	60.9	50.0	60.0	63.3	52.7	51.0	61.9
Lomond and Argyll
Clydebank	61.5	59.6	63.7	61.5	58.5	58.8	62.0	61.2	61.8	62.9	63.1
Cambeltown	47.3	58.3	46.9	58.9	51.5	60.7	64.3	50.0	75.0	52.9	58.8
Oban	47.4	69.7	65.6	73.8	80.0	58.1	51.1	56.0	73.7	62.5	59.3
Lothian and Central
Edinburgh City	55.0	51.5	44.2	53.4	43.5	45.3	49.1	55.6	50.8	44.2	72.4
Leith	54.4	48.9	56.8	55.3	52.7	50.0	47.1	56.6	51.4	56.5	52.0
Lothian West
Lothian West	69.2	64.9	62.3	62.1	59.3	59.6	58.1	62.2	60.8	62.2	58.1
Renfrew
Renfrew	72.8	61.2	61.9	64.8	61.8	60.6	63.3	64.0	64.2	61.9	65.0
South West Scotland
Ayr	66.7	56.7	58.6	54.7	57.4	56.4	58.0	55.3	68.6	63.4	55.3
Dumfries	72.4	72.5	63.4	67.7	61.4	65.4	64.4	72.3	64.7	67.2	62.1
Stranraer	67.6	51.1	66.7	60.3	71.4	58.7	70.5	51.2	68.5	63.3	55.0
Tayside
Dundee	63.8	61.3	60.3	61.1	61.1	59.9	57.7	65.4	59.7	58.7	56.8
Arbroath	65.2	62.4	66.7	69.2	62.7	66.7	63.0	67.5	60.5	62.4	55.7
Perth	69.7	61.0	58.1	67.6	63.5	60.5	68.6	64.7	69.9	60.3	63.6

Notes:

1. Data for April 1995 is unavailable.

2. Clyde Coast and Cowal district: incapacity benefit claims moved from Port Glasgow to Greenock from January 1996.

3. Data is provsional and subject to amendment.

Source:

100 per cent. count of cases on the incapacity benefit system. Excludes a small number of clerically processed cases.

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