Report Structure

Section 2 The UK Benefits System: background presents an overview of the benefits system in the UK and the typical process for appealing decisions and complaining about misconduct, as reported in the literature and from governmental online sources.

We then present in more detail data sources related to two social security benefits – the Employment and Support Allowance Benefit (section 2.1 ESA) and the Personal Independence Payments Benefit (section 2.2 PIP).

Section 2.3 (Other Data Sources) looks more closely at other secondary data sources that researchers could use for research organised by organisation/department and the corresponding appeals and complaints data sources, where available.

We conclude (section 3 Where to go from here) with some remarks on lessons learnt during the process of compiling this report and next steps for a more comprehensive overview of the data landscape for administrative justice research, as well as some recommendations on where and how researchers can find more information on data sources on other areas of administrative justice (such as immigration, planning, employment), which are usually included in the administrative justice process. These are key areas undergoing significant policy and legislative change, but many other areas also merit exploration of data sources held by central and local government. The section also includes pointers on resources for researchers interested in working with administrative data on issues such as legal framework, ethics and consent, quality of data among others.