What is really going on in politics? Get our daily email briefing straight to your inbox Sign up Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

More than 1,000 sick and disabled people have been cruelly turned away from benefit appeals they waited months for, the Mirror can reveal.

Officials admit 1,354 welfare tribunal hearings were rescheduled due to “insufficient time on the day” between June 2016 and July this year.

Labour MP Louise Haigh obtained the shocking figures after a constituent in Sheffield waited eight months, only to be sent home because time ran out.

She warned the delays were costing taxpayers and making sick claimants sicker, adding: “She was reliant on food banks and on her church’s help to pay her rent.

“The Tories’ welfare policy is in tatters and it’s time they listened to the people at the sharp end of it.”

(Image: Getty)

The vast majority of people forced home are thought to have been claiming two sickness and disability benefits, Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) and Personal Independence Payments (PIP).

Of the 241,956 benefit appeals lodged in the last year, 93,156 were for ESA and 112,023 were for PIP. The majority overturned the government’s decision.

ESA claimants already have to wait 18 weeks on average for tribunals, which come after a separate internal appeal process.

(Image: PA)

The government has no record of how much longer those sent home had to wait.

Tribunals are run by the Ministry of Justice . Justice minister Dominic Raab insisted fewer than 1% of people were turned away on the day.

A Ministry of Justice spokeswoman said: "In the rare instance hearings are adjourned, the tribunal has a legal duty to arrange a new date as quickly as possible.



"We continue to work closely with the judiciary to ensure adjournments are kept to an absolute minimum.”