Asked by: Lloyd Russell-Moyle (Labour (Co-op) - Brighton, Kemptown)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 17 July 2023 to Question 193236 on Personal Independence Payment: Medical Examinations, what steps his Department plans to take to ensure that personal independence payment reassessments registered in 2022 are reviewed as quickly as possible.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
We are committed to ensuring people can access financial support through Personal Independence Payment (PIP) in a timely manner. We prioritise new claims, while ensuring
claimants awaiting award reviews remain in payment until we can make a decision.
We always aim to make an award review decision as quickly as possible, considering the need to review all available evidence, including that from the claimant.
In addition, and in order to improve the service across all PIP activities, we are also:
Claimants are asked to contact us if their condition changes so their review can be looked at more quickly.
Mentions:
1: Gulhane, Sandesh (Con - Glasgow) That is not medical tourism—it is desperation. - Speech Link
2: Sweeney, Paul (Lab - Glasgow) Patients and dentists deserve better.I can furnish members with a personal anecdote. - Speech Link
3: Ewing, Fergus (SNP - Inverness and Nairn) Just as we see a flood of young people leaving Scotland to practise their medical profession elsewhere - Speech Link
4: Minto, Jenni (SNP - Argyll and Bute) I believe that the only way to protect our NHS dental services is through independence. - Speech Link
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 04 May to Question 182900 on Personal Independence Payment: Medical Examinations, what evidence his Department took into consideration when assessing whether those criteria were the most suitable way of assessing people with fluctuating conditions.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Personal Independence Payment (PIP) assessment was developed in an iterative, transparent and consultative manner, in collaboration with a wide range of experts and through comprehensive public consultation between 2010-2011, prior to PIP being enacted in 2013. The findings of this consultation informed the development of the assessment criteria set out in regulations.
All health professionals are required to assess individuals in line with the statutory requirements, including: whether an individual can complete each of the 12 activities; the manner in which they can do it; whether they can complete each activity “safely, to an acceptable standard, repeatedly and in a reasonable time period”.
When choosing the descriptor, the health professional should also consider an individual’s ability over a 12-month period, ensuring that fluctuations are taken into account. For each activity, if a descriptor applies on more than 50 per cent of the days in the 12-month period, that descriptor should be chosen. In general, health professionals should record function over an average year for conditions that fluctuate over months, per week for conditions that fluctuate by the day, and by the day for conditions that vary over a day.
Many of the changes set out in Transforming Support: The Health and Disability White Paper aim to improve our assessment of fluctuating conditions, such as the way we use medical evidence, and developing the capability of our assessors. We will also explore options for introducing a new way of gathering evidence of fluctuation in a person’s condition before their assessment.
Mentions:
1: Roddick, Emma (SNP - Highlands and Islands) , which replaces the personal independence payment in Scotland. - Speech Link
2: Cole-Hamilton, Alex (LD - Edinburgh Western) In fact, they are facing longer waits than people under the DWP system for personal independence payments - Speech Link
3: Stewart, Kevin (SNP - Aberdeen Central) , the child disability payment and the carer support payment from Social Security Scotland make a real - Speech Link
4: Roddick, Emma (SNP - Highlands and Islands) However, it was firmly concluded that deviating from personal independence payment eligibility criteria - Speech Link
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether people in receipt of a letter notifying them of a postponed PIP reassessment are counted as awaiting a PIP (a) assessment and (b) reassessment.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
There are still some claimants in receipt of Adult DLA who are yet to be reassessed. These cases are classed as awaiting PIP ‘reassessment’. DLA payments will continue until they are invited to claim PIP, and we have not contacted anyone on DLA to inform them of any postponement.
There are claimants who have made a new claim to PIP but not yet received a decision. A proportion of these will be with the Assessment Provider and counted as awaiting ‘assessment’. No one in this category would receive a letter indicating their assessments is postponed, unless there are unusual circumstances, and the Provider needs to re-arrange a specific appointment for example.
There are claimants already in receipt of PIP whose award is due to end (or has ended). Some cases are yet to be reviewed and would be counted as awaiting ‘review’. Some cases have been referred to the Assessment Provider and would therefore be counted as awaiting ‘assessment’. Where appropriate, we write to claimants to let them know the process is ongoing and we are extending their award, but we do not inform claimants that their review or assessment is postponed.
Asked by: Margaret Greenwood (Labour - Wirral West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to his Department's consultation entitled Modernising support for independent living: the health and disability green paper, published on 29 April 2024, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of condition-based assessments on people with multiple health conditions.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Modernising Support for Independent Living: The Health and Disability Green Paper was published on 29 April 2024. The associated consultation will last for 12 weeks, ending on 22 July. Throughout this period we will continue to listen to and work with disabled people, people with health conditions and their representatives.
The consultation aims to hear views on whether we should have a condition-based assessment. We understand that many people have more than one health condition, and if this proposal is taken forwards following the consultation, we will consider in the detailed policy design how a condition-based approach would work for people with multiple conditions.
Asked by: Angela Crawley (Scottish National Party - Lanark and Hamilton East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department has taken to ensure that PIP assessments accurately assess claimants with mental health issues.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Personal Independence Payment (PIP) assessment identifies the needs arising from physical, sensory, mental, intellectual or cognitive issues, or any combination of these. The assessment criteria were developed over a decade ago in conjunction with independent health, social care, and disability experts.
All health professionals performing PIP assessments receive comprehensive training in disability analysis including specific training on mental health conditions and how to identify their impact on claimants’ ability to carry out the activities in the assessment. Our assessment providers have Mental Health Function Champions (MHFC) to support assessors when reviewing evidence and provide advice to DWP Case Managers. MHFCs are specialist practitioners who have at least 2 years of post-registration clinical experience in a mental health or learning disability role.
No assessment has been made of the potential mental health impact of PIP assessments, although customer experience is something that is continually monitored. It would be extremely difficult to objectively separate the specific impact of assessments on mental health from other contributory factors.
Asked by: Angela Crawley (Scottish National Party - Lanark and Hamilton East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of PIP assessments on the mental health of claimants.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Personal Independence Payment (PIP) assessment identifies the needs arising from physical, sensory, mental, intellectual or cognitive issues, or any combination of these. The assessment criteria were developed over a decade ago in conjunction with independent health, social care, and disability experts.
All health professionals performing PIP assessments receive comprehensive training in disability analysis including specific training on mental health conditions and how to identify their impact on claimants’ ability to carry out the activities in the assessment. Our assessment providers have Mental Health Function Champions (MHFC) to support assessors when reviewing evidence and provide advice to DWP Case Managers. MHFCs are specialist practitioners who have at least 2 years of post-registration clinical experience in a mental health or learning disability role.
No assessment has been made of the potential mental health impact of PIP assessments, although customer experience is something that is continually monitored. It would be extremely difficult to objectively separate the specific impact of assessments on mental health from other contributory factors.
Mentions:
1: Robison, Shona (SNP - Dundee City East) Even then, only girls whose parent or guardian agreed to them going and who passed two medical examinations - Speech Link
2: None submitted to Redress Scotland is a fixed-rate application or an application for an individually assessed payment - Speech Link
3: Robison, Shona (SNP - Dundee City East) long-term care having been removed from parental responsibility.The point that I am making about the independence - Speech Link
4: Torrance, David (SNP - Kirkcaldy) for educational support staff from 27.5 to 35 hours; to allow educational support staff to work on personal - Speech Link
Asked by: Beth Winter (Labour - Cynon Valley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what information his Department holds on the number of complaints received by (a) Capita and (b) other external assessors for Personal Independence Payment applications in each of the last five years.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The department manages the PIP contracts robustly and has a full set of service level agreements setting out our expectations for service delivery.
It is important for providers to have their own complaints process to deal with dissatisfaction about the service they provide. This process signposts complainants to the Independent Case Examiner (ICE) if they are dissatisfied with the provider’s final response to their complaint.
The process is designed to ensure that those complaining about third party provision have access to the same complaint escalation route as those who complain about services provided by Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). This encourages providers to resolve complaints at the earliest opportunity. It also gives providers the right incentives to offer good customer service and to comply with the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman’s Principles of Good Complaint Handling.
In each of the last five calendar years (2019 to date), the total number of cases where Personal Independence Payment (PIP) assessment providers (APs), Capita and Independent Assessment Services (IAS), received a complaint, are shown in the table below.
| 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 to date |
Capita | 2800 | 1390 | 1380 | 1380 | 1580 |
IAS | 6140 | 2800 | 2390 | 1760 | 1830 |
Please note:
- All volumes have been rounded to the nearest 10.
- All above data is derived from contractual management information produced by the APs.
- The above data is derived from unpublished management information, which is collected for internal departmental use only, and has not been quality assured to Official Statistics Publication standards.
All APs strive to provide an excellent service to claimants and are held to account for their performance. To put the above figures into context, the total number of complaints shown as a percentage of all completed assessments for the same period, are as follows:
| 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 to date |
Capita | 1.24% | 0.74% | 0.76% | 0.56% | 0.57% |
IAS | 0.87% | 0.51% | 0.41% | 0.24% | 0.23% |
Please note:
The above percentages have been derived from the unrounded totals.