Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he has made an assessment of the potential mental health impact of (a) disability tests and (b) sanctions.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
No assessment has been made of the potential mental health impact of PIP or WCA, assessments or social security sanctions.
a) Evaluations of Personal Independence Payments (PIP) and Work Capability Assessments (WCA) policy are routinely carried out, and often include engagement with external researchers. The methods used are designed to be appropriate to the specific type of intervention being evaluated. Customer experience of assessments is also continually monitored. However, it would be extremely difficult to objectively separate the specific impact of disability tests on mental health from other contributory factors.
b) Under Universal Credit and Employment and Support Allowance, sanctions do not apply to all customers. Those with a health condition, illness or disability who are found to have ‘limited capability for work and work-related requirements’, are not subject to work-related conditions and will therefore not be sanctioned. Those found to have limited capability for work and claimants on work-related benefits are expected to take responsibility for meeting the conditionality requirements they have agreed with their work coach. Where a customer has a health condition, illness or disability, work coaches have the discretion to tailor these requirements to what is reasonable and achievable, taking into account the individual's condition. Additionally, in some circumstances a customer’s work-related requirements may be lifted for a period if their ability to carry them out is disrupted due to their personal circumstances.
A sanction is only applied where an individual has failed to meet their agreed conditionality requirements without demonstrating good reason for doing so. In cases where vulnerabilities are known or suspected, a pre-referral quality check is undertaken prior to any sanction referral to ensure that it is appropriate in the circumstances.
Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what progress they have made on their plans to audio-record all assessments for disability benefit by default.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Audio recording is now available for face-to-face and telephone assessments with all the department’s assessment providers. These arrangements are publicised on providers’ websites and in the assessment invitation letters to claimants. The department remains committed to offering audio recording on an opt-in basis, giving claimants the choice of having their assessment recorded.
Asked by: Baroness Browning (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what training in customer mental health they give to contractors providing assessments of benefits claimants.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
We are fully committed to supporting those with mental health conditions. The assessment of mental, cognitive, and intellectual function is an integral part of the assessment process.
All healthcare professionals (HPs) undertaking assessments on behalf of the department must be registered practitioners who have undergone comprehensive training in the functional assessment of disability, and mental health conditions. HPs continue to keep this knowledge up to date through continuous professional development.
In addition, mental health function champions support HPs by providing additional expertise about mental health, cognitive, developmental, and learning disabilities, and can be referred to at any time during the assessment process.
Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what guidance is provided to health professionals who have been asked to provide medical evidence for (a) Personal Independence Payment assessments (b) Work Capability Assessments.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The department publishes guidance for health professionals who have been asked to provide medical evidence for Personal Independence Payment assessments and Work Capability Assessments, on GOV.UK.
Asked by: David Linden (Scottish National Party - Glasgow East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to his Department's prior information notice of 5 April on Additional Healthcare Capacity, reference 2023/S 000-009884, fow what reason additional capacity is required.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
This contract replaces an existing contract, which is coming to an end.
The Health Transformation Programme is developing a new Health Assessment Service through our Health Transformation Area. This is a controlled safe environment where we can develop the service at small scale, exploring ideas from claimants, stakeholders and DWP staff. The healthcare professionals who deliver WCA and PIP assessments within the Health Transformation Area, are directly employed by the DWP.
The new contract provides additional healthcare professionals, providing us with the flexibility to supplement the capacity as required to ensure we can continue to provide a stable service to meet the needs of claimants and to continue to test and build the new service.
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, with reference to the policy paper entitled Transforming Support: The Health and Disability White Paper published on 15 March 2023, when his Department expects to complete its move to an IT system that will have the capability to record all assessments.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
During 2024, the department intends to move to a new telephony platform and make enhancements to the Video Assessment application, bringing the ability to record all assessments.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of training provided to assessors who consider Personal Independence Payments and the Work Capability Assessments for disabled claimants.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
All assessment providers are required to ensure that all health professionals (HP) carrying out assessments have sufficient training and knowledge of the clinical aspects and likely overall functional effects of a wide range of health conditions and impairments.
To ensure a high standard is maintained the department has an Independent Audit function that continually monitors performance and provides feedback to providers. Audit refers to a comprehensive check of the elements of the assessment, including the evidence collection, further evidence provided, and the assessment report completed by the HP. The check is completed against a set of guidelines to ensure a consistent approach is taken. This ensures that assessment reports are fit for purpose, clinically justified and sound, and provide sufficient information for the department to make an informed decision on entitlement to benefit.
Providers work with the department to continuously improve assessment quality through a range of measures including audit procedures. We also measure the adequacy of HP training through customer satisfaction surveys undertaken by independent third parties. All providers have consistently exceeded their customer satisfaction targets of 90% for Personal Independence Payment and 92% for the Work Capability Assessment.
Asked by: Kate Osamor (Independent - Edmonton)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to his Answer of 7 November 2022 to Question 80819, how many times his Department visited assessment centres to help audit the performance of providers in each year from 2015 to 2022.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The information requested is not available. We have a stringent performance management regime which includes Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) performance managers attending assessment centres; however, data for such visits is not retained.
Provider performance is measured across a range of service level agreements setting out the department's expectations for service delivery. These include quality, performance delivery targets and customer experience.
Independent Audit is one of the department’s tools to measure quality for performance management purposes. It is a self-contained team comprising of experienced health professional assessors who review a sample of assessment reports on a monthly basis to determine their quality. This helps ensure that assessment reports are fit for purpose, clinically justified, and provide sufficient information for the department to make a reasonable decision on entitlement to benefit. It is not an audit of the assessment provider as a whole.
Asked by: Kate Osamor (Independent - Edmonton)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to his Answer of 7 November 2022 to Question 80819 on Social Security Benefits: Medical Examinations, if he will publish the results of the last audit of Health Assessors; Capita and Independent Assessment Services.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
We currently have no plans to publish the last audit results for Capita and Independent Assessment Services (IAS).
Referring to our previous answer to PQ80819, audit refers to a comprehensive check of the elements of the assessment, including the evidence collection, further evidence provided, and the assessment report completed by the health professional. It is not an audit of the assessment provider.
Provider performance is measured across a range of service level agreements (SLA) setting out the department's expectations for service delivery. These include quality, performance delivery targets and customer experience.
The monthly quality audit performance against the SLA target for Capita and IAS has already been published for January 2014 to April 2022 as part of the answer to PQ26035.
Asked by: Kate Osamor (Independent - Edmonton)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how often her Department visits health assessment centres in person to audit the performance of assessment providers.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) does not have a contractual obligation to perform regular visits to assessment centres, but does retain the right to visit any assessment centre, at any time, subject to reasonable notice. The department exercises this right, with Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and Work Capability Assessment (WCA) performance managers visiting assessment centres on an informal basis.
The department has set standards for the quality of assessments for all its assessment providers and independent auditors. The department ensures a high standard is maintained by having an independent audit function that continually monitors performance and provides feedback to its providers. Audit refers to a comprehensive check of the elements of the assessment, including the evidence collection, further evidence provided, and the assessment report completed by the health professional.