Thousands of people in Bolton have taken the Government to tribunal over disability benefit payments and more than half won, figures show.

Since 2013, hundreds of thousands of benefits decisions have been overturned across the UK after disabled people battled a ‘complex and distressing’ appeals system to win their case at tribunal, disability charities say.

Overall, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) assessed 26,760 applications for Personal Independence Payment (PIP) from people in Bolton between 2013 and 2021, with the benefit awarded in 17,662 - 66 per cent  - cases.

Dissatisfaction with initial decisions led to 6,100 people submitting an initial mandatory reconsideration request, with 21 per cent of those awards changed as a result.

Michelle Cardno, founder of welfare advice and advocacy group, who cover Bolton and Bury: “We had one client who was really ill and died waiting for the appeals process to get his benefits.

“He had various heart problems and tried telling them this. Eventually he had a heart attack.

“The suicide rate is also higher because of this as people lose the money overnight if the renewal decides they cannot have the benefits.”

The Department for Work and Pensions data shows roughly 2,130 cases from Bolton were taken to tribunal between April 2013 and the end of 2021.

Around 56 per cenet saw the DWP's decision overturned in their favour over the period.

This suggests major inaccuracies in the way in which the decisions are originally made.

Michelle said: “They don’t lose the money over a gradual time either, they lose it overnight.

“This could be a mobility scooter or could be paying for a carer and if they can’t afford it, it really affects them.

“We’ve been seeing this problem a lot as people come to us and even have people who we helped with their previous payments and who are now switching over to PIP and are suddenly denied the rate they were getting.”

Nina Huszarik, lead policy adviser at charity Scope, said far too many disabled people received the wrong decision first time around and were left without financial support as a result.

She said an enormous number of disabled people's lives had been thrown into turmoil by "failures of the benefits system", with many not well enough to face the mental and physical stress and exhaustion of taking their cases to appeal.

The DWP now allows more time for applicants to gather information to support their claim.