The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has announced plans for a new way of recording all disability health benefit consultations. These changes will see a new telephone platform come into place in 2024, as well as new enhancements to the video assessment application.
These updates come just a week after the publication of a report from the DWP Committee around the health assessments system used by people who cannot work, or who face extra costs due to disability or ill-health, to access vital benefits, the Daily Record reports. The report included a proposal from the chair, Sir Stephen Timms MP, for all assessments to be recorded by default and with an option for claimants to opt out.
The cross-party committee said footage could then be used to review cases 'more accurately' without the need to go to appeal. The committee also said it could 'help assessors learn from past mistakes', with suggestions that could drive down the high rate of decisions reversed on appeal - which stands at 69 per cent for Personal Independence Payments (PIP).
