The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has announced plans to move to a new telephony platform during 2024 and make enhancements to the Video Assessment application, which will bring the ability to record all disability health benefit consultations.
The update comes just a week after the publication of a report from the Work and Pensions Committee into the health assessments system used by people who cannot work or face extra costs due to disability or ill-health to access vital benefits. The report contained a proposal from the chair, Sir Stephen Timms MP for all assessments to be recorded by default, with an option for claimants to opt-out.
The cross-part committee of MPs said that footage could then be used to review cases more accurately without having to go to appeal, and help assessors learn from past mistakes. It added that some of the suggestions could drive down the high rate of decisions reversed on appeal, which still stands at 69 per cent for Personal Independence Payment (PIP).
Work Capability Assessments used for Universal Credit and Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) are set to be abolished as part of new DWP measures, but will remain in place until at least 2026.
MPs on the Committee also recommended:
- allowing claimants to choose between remote or in-person assessments
- extending the deadline to return forms
- targets to reduce assessment waiting times
- payments to people who have been forced to wait beyond the new targets
Commenting on the report, Committee Chair Sir Stephen Timms, said: “We surveyed eight and a half thousand people as part of our inquiry and found a profound lack of trust in the system as a consistent theme.
“Many will welcome the abolition of the Work Capability Assessment. The Government’s process improvements, and recognition that the system causes undue stress and hardship, are steps in the right direction.
“However, waiting years for changes won’t cut it when quicker wins are available: flexibility of choice on assessment by phone or face-to-face; recording assessments by default; extending deadlines to reduce stress; and sending claimants their reports. All this will give much-needed transparency to a process that so few trust yet affects their lives so fundamentally.”
He added: “All efforts must be made for unnecessary limbo and stress for claimants to be put to an end.”
You can view the full report online here.
The latest statistics from the DWP indicate that some 661,620 PIP assessments were conducted over the phone between February 2022 and January 2023. The figure accounts for 66 per cent of all assessments and includes new claims, award reviews and change of circumstances.
Data shared by Minister for Disabled People, Tom Pursglove MP, also shows that 69,570 (7%) of all assessments conducted over that same period were done in-person through a face-to-face consultation. There were also 179,390 (18.1%) paper-based assessments and 69,140 (7%) completed over a video call.
DWP also said there were 13,270 completed assessments (1.3%) for which they do not hold data.
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