Professor Philip Lane:

More broadly, what we have seen in the aggregate throughout the entire system is that approximately half of the appeals decisions that have been made were in favour of the people making them.

In the aggregate across all cases it is 50:50. This indicates there is plenty of willingness by the appeals panels to increase awards. That is the aggregate number. It is not the case there is structural resistance in the design of this. I view it as a success of the design that so many people receive higher awards. The appeals mechanism is there to bring into account individual circumstances. Every family is different. The person bringing an appeal may be able to provide extra detail about how the original decision was made or about the damage he or she faced as a result of the handling of that individual situation. The fact that across the system in approximately half of the cases people have received an increased payment when the appeal decision is finalised shows that the appeals mechanism-----