Every interview for disability benefit should be recorded say a committee of MP’s in a damning report released today into PIP (Personal Independence Payment).
The report by the House of Commons Work and Pensions Committee found that in a sizeable minority of cases, things go very wrong indeed. For at least 290,000 claimants of PIP and ESA,6% of all those assessed,the right decision on entitlement was not made first time.
Applying for PIP or ESA can be daunting. The Department has so far only made limited efforts to provide support and guidance in a variety of clear, accessible formats. It should not rely on already stretched third sector organisations to explain the Department’s own processes said the MP’s adding that Many PIP and ESA claimants have multiple health conditions that bring with them severe limitations.
It added that the three Companies involved in dealing with claims,Atos, Capita and Maximus, have produced reports ‘riddled with errors and omissions’.
Frank Field MP, Chair of the Committee, said:
“For the majority of claimants the assessments work adequately, but a pervasive lack of trust is undermining its entire operation. In turn, this is translating into untenable human costs to claimants and financial costs to the public purse.
Government cannot, must not, fail to recognise the unprecedented response the Committee had to this inquiry, remarkable for the consistency and clarity of themes that emerged through thousands of individual accounts. No one should have any doubt the process needs urgent change.
Recording the face-to-face assessment would go so far toward increasing transparency and restoring trust it beggars belief that this is not already a routine element of the process.
The resistance from the Department to instituting this is equally bewildering. The cost of providing a record of the assessment is surely nothing compared to the benefits of restoring trust. Those benefits should include far fewer decisions going to appeal – and being overturned there – at considerable legal expense to taxpayers.
The current contracts have not made the system fairer, have not made it more transparent and have not made it more efficient. They are up for review, and market interest appears limp. The existing contractors have consistently failed to meet basic performance standards but other companies are hardly scrambling over each other to take over. The Government should be prepared to take assessments in house.”
Responding to the report,health charity Mind said:
“Support from the benefits system can help people with mental health problems to live independently and take control over their own lives. However this report highlights how badly the benefits assessment process is failing many people with mental health problems. More than half of people who appeal their benefit decision see it overturned, but for too many people, going through that process just isn’t possible because they are too unwell to face it. The Committee urges the Government to make benefits assessments more transparent so that people don’t need to go all the way to court to receive the financial support they need.
“The inquiry also revealed shocking stories of assessors who lacked even the most basic understanding of mental health. We need to see greater expertise and knowledge in mental health among assessors.
“The Government now owes it to the hundreds of people with mental health problems who shared their stories to this inquiry, and the thousands more going through these assessments, to take real and urgent action.”
