An online petition proposing that people with certain medical conditions should not be required to attend a health assessment for benefits such as Personal Independence Payment (PIP) has passed the 10,000 signature threshold that triggers an official response from the UK Government. The petition, created by Ray Vanderahe, suggests that PIP assessments should be based “solely on evidence from medical professionals, such as a letter from a GP or consultant”.
The ‘End assessments and consider disability benefit claims on medical advice alone’ petition, is hosted on the petitions-parliament website, where it has received more than 23,520 signatures of support from across the UK. At 100,000 the petition would be considered for debate in Parliament.
The petition states: “The [UK] Government should remove the requirement for people claiming disability benefits, such as the Personal Independence Payment (PIP), to have to go through an assessment process. Claims should be based solely on evidence from medical professionals, such as a letter from a GP or consultant.”
It continues: “We are concerned about how the disabled, with conditions such as inflammatory Arthritis. Heart disease, lung disease, respiratory diseases, poor mental health etc, are treated by the benefits system. Claimants with medical evidence of their condition should not be subject to degrading assessments.
“These delays in assessing claims risk deterring genuine claims. It has to stop.”
The petition is open until January 21, 2023 and can be viewed online here and we will update this article once a response has been given.
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) recently rejected a similar petition which called for a full review into how PIP is delivered, focusing in particular on the role independent assessors play in the application process.
In the response, DWP said : “We are committed to ensuring individuals applying for health and disability benefits receive high quality, robust and accurate assessments and decisions on their claim. We work continuously to improve the quality of service.
“It has always been our aim to make the right decision at the earliest opportunity so that claimants do not have to appeal.
“Consequently, and learning from tribunal decisions, we have introduced a new approach to decision making at both the initial decision and the Mandatory Reconsideration stage, giving Decision Makers additional time to proactively contact claimants where they think additional evidence may support a claim.”
DWP continued: “The new approach to decision making has resulted in a greater proportion of decisions being changed at Mandatory Reconsideration, which in turn has contributed to a reduction in the proportion of decisions resulting in an appeal lodgement.
“Only 7% of initial decisions made in 2020-21 have seen an appeal lodged against them, compared to 9% in 2019-20, and 10% in the three years previous. In addition, since PIP was introduced 4.5 million initial decisions following an assessment have been made up to March 2022; 9% have been appealed and 4% have been overturned at a tribunal hearing.”
Last year DWP published Shaping Future Support: The Health and Disability Green Paper. This explored how the welfare system can better meet the needs of disabled people and those with health conditions to build a system that enables people to live independently and move into work where possible - the White Paper will be published next year.
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