Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how the performance of PIP assessors is monitored.

The Department robustly monitors the performance of contracted suppliers and assessments are independently audited to ensure that the advice provided to the Department’s decision makers is of suitable quality, fully explained and justified. Assessment reports deemed unacceptable are returned to the provider for reworking. We continue to work extensively with PIP assessment providers to make improvements to guidance, training and audit procedures in order to ensure a quality service is maintained.

Detailed guidance on how reports are audited and the criteria to be used are set out in section 4.5 of the Personal Independence Payment Assessment Guide, which can be found here https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/547146/pip-assessment-guide.pdf.

Both assessment providers are committed to continuous improvement. We are examining the merits of audio-recording face-to-face assessments to support a more consistent application of the assessment process and also changes to the way information is gathered during the assessment.