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."
