Thousands of people have been 'wrongly' rejected for disability benefits by Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), according to new figures.
It has been revealed that almost 80,000 rejections were overturned for Personal Independence Payment (PIP), after DWP had initially denied them the payment.
The figure suggests that there are many flaws in the DWP's assessment process.
According to the Independent, "the government is finding a record number of disability benefits claimants have been wrongly rejected by its own assessments as the cost of correcting these errors soars."
Campaigners are said to be pointing out "flaws in the system" leading to thousands of rejections being overturned.
In addition, separate figures show the cost of these reviews has surged by 26% within the last two years, despite the fact that the number of reviews carried out by the DWP decreased by 23% over the same period.
Claimants who wish to appeal a PIP decision, which is based on assessments by two private firms - Capita and Atos - must first appeal through the department's internal process, which is known as mandatory reconsideration.
Figures published by DWP minister Chloe Smith in response to a written parliamentary question show that the cost to taxpayers of mandatory considerations for PIP stood at £24.8m last year, compared with £19.7m in 2018/19 and £13.7m in 2016/17.
The findings have led to warnings that ministers are "throwing disabled people's lives into turmoil" by putting them through "long stressful" waits to get the right support, while presiding over an “appalling waste” of taxpayers’ money.
When asked about the increase, the DWP pointed to a new approach giving decision-makers more time to contact claimants and gather evidence, reports the Independent.
Re-considerations can take anywhere from two weeks to several months before a person may hear back.
However Vicky Foxcroft MP, Labour’s shadow minister for disabled people, said the new figures were "another example of the benefits system not working for disabled people" and called on the government to "get a grip and sort this problem once and for all."
Paul Alexander, policy manager at disability equality charity Scope added that the high number of cases being overturned shows there is a clear flaw in the current system, adding that "disabled people shouldn’t have to fight to get what they are entitled to.
"DWP needs to be getting decisions right first time around."
FOI (Freedom of Information) data shows that one in five of the 905,870 initial PIP decisions made last year went to mandatory reconsideration, and one in 13 of all initial decisions were overturned at this stage.
Phillip Anderson, head of policy at the MS Society noted that the appeals process is "so stressful" that many people decide not to challenge the decision in case they lose "what little support they already have."
He added: "Pip should measure your need for support, not your willingness to battle a system setting you up to fail. We’re calling on the government to face the facts and fix this faulty system so that it works once and for all."
A DWP spokesperson said: "For the majority of PIP claims, we get decisions right and all assessments are carried out by healthcare professionals trained to consider the impact of someone’s health condition or disability, but we are exploring what more we can do so the welfare system better meets the needs of disabled people through our health and disability green paper."
