The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has been slammed for "delays and confusion" over changes to Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) assessments. The changes planned will mean that one company would carry out assessments for both ESA and PIP, as reported by Chronicle Live.
Benefits and Work, an information website, has accused the DWP of dragging its heels on clarifying a major change to the assessment system for benefits. It says the new system planned for this August may now not go ahead at all.
In a newsletter, Benefits and Work said: "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."
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"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 planned change meant a claimant would not have to attend two assessments for PIP and ESA. 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.
However, a spokesperson from the DWP said the delay referred to its procurement process. A spokesperson said: "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.
"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."
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