Planned changes to the way disabled people are assessed for benefits by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) have been slammed for 'delays and confusion'.
Information website Benefits and Work has accused the DWP of dragging its heels on clarifying a major change to the assessment system for Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and work capability assessments (WCA), and says the new system planned for this summer may now not go ahead at all.
The changes were supposed to be introduced this August, but Benefits and Work said in a newsletter: "In evidence given to the Commons Work and Pensions Committee earlier this month, the DWP admitted that contracts for the new system have not even been awarded yet. However, since the committee meeting on January 11, we have now had the news that the Government is considering major reforms to the WCA or possibly scrapping it altogether."
Read more: Warning as thousands of DWP Universal Credit claimants are receiving 'phantom' payments
"One of the reasons for the delay, the DWP claim, is that they have belatedly decided that they want to use their own software to carry out the assessments rather than letting different providers develop their own."
The change planned meant that just one company would carry out assessments for both Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) and PIP, meaning a claimant would not have to attend two assessments. Contracts for all assessment providers have been extended for two years, after which the change to a single assessment provider in each of an undisclosed number of geographic regions will be introduced.
To get money saving updates direct to your inbox, sign up here or fill in the form below.
However, a spokesperson from the DWP said the delay referred to its procurement process. "We made a short extension to the current contracts, until March 2024, in order to prevent disruption to services, in part following the extended impact of the pandemic," a spokesperson said. "We are providing the IT for future assessments but that’s unrelated to the contract extension and is simply to ensure that the procurement process is a more level playing field for potential new assessment providers. It was always our intention to provide the IT for assessments."
Last year, DWP minister Tom Pursglove revealed that the DWP had been carrying out “small-scale testing" of the online apply service and said the DWP will “gradually expand and improve” its approach.
Mr Pursglove explained: “We published Shaping Future Support: The Health and Disability Green Paper last year. This asked for views on ways we can improve people’s experience of the health and disability benefits system and set out ways we could make our services easier to access, make our processes simpler and help build people’s trust."
Personal Independence Payment (PIP) is a benefit for people aged over 16 and under State Pension age with a disability, long-term illness or mental health condition who need help completing daily tasks inside their home or getting around. You can receive the payment even if you are working or are on other benefits and if you have a terminal condition the payment is made automatically.
The latest statistics from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) shows there are now more than three million people in the UK receiving financial support of between £24.45 and £156.90 each week through PIP - the benefit is paid every four weeks so this amounts to between £97.80 and £627.60 every payment period. The benefit is normally awarded for a fixed length of time and then reviewed to determine whether the claim is still valid.
ESA can be awarded at the same time as other benefits like PIP if the claimant has difficulty working they are sick or disabled. This is called having 'limited capability for work'.
The DWP spokesperson said: "Our Health Transformation Programme is continuing to develop a new assessment service and the Health and Disability White Paper, which we’ll publish in the coming months, will set out the changes we want to make to better enable people to take up opportunities to work and to live more independently. "
He said that new contracts would be issued from March 2024 to "bring together current Health and Disability Assessment Services and Personal Independence Payment assessments under single geographic contracts, deliver continuity of service for claimants and provide the foundation for the new HAS." The contracts would last for five years.
Benefits and Work said: "The business case for spending millions on new software that will become obsolete soon after its introduction becomes very hard to make. A white paper on benefits is due out in early March. It’s contents may spell the end of the DWP’s current plan to shake-up the assessment system. Meanwhile, the delays and confusion will continue."
Now read:
- Cost of living: A five-step plan to get debt free in 2023
- How to get help if you’re struggling with the cost of food - including voucher schemes
- How to work out how much your heating costs per hour
- All the big money changes to look out for in 2023 month by month
- DWP Universal Credit claimants hit as sanctions rise by 250% amid claims they are 'back with a vengeance'
