Asked by: Darren Jones (Labour - Bristol North West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has of the cost to her Department of mandatory reconsiderations for (a) employment and support allowance and (b) personal independence payment benefits claims in (i) 2019-20 and (ii) 2020-21.
Answered by Chloe Smith
I refer the Hon Member to the answer I gave on 2nd February 2022 to question number 108447.
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, whether it is her Department's policy that claimants with verified progressive neurological conditions can be exempted from health-related social security medical assessments.
Answered by Chloe Smith
Awards of the health and disability related benefits are not made based on a person’s condition or diagnosis but rather on how their condition limits their abilities. People can have very differing circumstances so we have developed assessments which are designed to measure the impact of a person’s health condition or disability on their work-related or daily living needs, including the level at which they should be paid.
In Sept 2017 the Department introduced Severe Conditions Criteria (SCC) for Employment and Support Allowance and the health component of Universal Credit. This stops unnecessary reassessments for those with the most severe and lifelong conditions. In 2018, we introduced new guidance on Personal Independence Payment (PIP) assessments which ensures that claimants on the highest level of support whose needs will not improve receive an ongoing award of PIP with a light touch review at the 10-year point.
Where a claimant is nearing the end of their life they are able to claim benefits under the Special Rules for Terminal illness (SRTI). The SRTI provide access to benefit without waiting periods. Awards are made on the basis of a paper-based assessment and claimants usually receive the highest rates of benefit. The Department announced that it would replace the current 6-month rule for determining eligibility for the Special Rules for Terminal Illness with a 12-month, end of life approach.
The Shaping Future Support: Health and Disability Green Paper published 20th July 2021, explored the possibility of testing a new Severe Disability Group for those with severe and lifelong conditions to access ESA/UC and PIP. This could simplify the process by removing the need for a long form or a face-to-face assessment for this group and build on existing provision such as Severe Conditions and Special Rules for Terminal Illness.
Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, on how many occasions people have been declared fit for work and have then been successful in an appeal of that decision against her Department in (a) Coventry North East constituency, (b) Coventry, (c) the West Midlands and (d) England in each of the last three years.
Answered by Chloe Smith
National Statistics for Employment Support Allowance Work Capability Assessments (WCA) are published every three months here:
Detailed monthly statistics showing the outcomes of completed initial and repeat WCAs and the outcomes of Mandatory Reconsiderations and Appeals, by various geographical areas, are available on Stat-Xplore at:
https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/
Guidance for users is available at:
https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Getting-Started.html
The information requested for Universal Credit WCAs is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
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, what progress she has made on the tendering process for health and disability assessments from 2023.
Answered by Chloe Smith
The tender for Functional Assessment Service contracts to deliver health and disability assessments from 2023 was successfully launched by the DWP on 12 November 2021.
The details can be found on Gov.UK
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 evidence pack published alongside the Health and Disability Green Paper in July 2021, if she will place in the Library the survey questionnaires sent to claimants by Atos, Capita and Maximus following one of their assessments for employment support allowance, universal credit limited capability for work or work related activity and personal independence payment which result in 97 per cent and 94 per cent satisfaction respectively.
Answered by Chloe Smith
Yes, DWP will place in the library a copy of the questionnaires..
However, it should be noted that the survey questionnaires for each provider have since been updated to incorporate remote assessment channels (telephone and video) introduced as part of the Covid-19 response.
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 11 November 2021 to Question 65471 on the Health Transformation Programme, when she plans to begin recruitment of the new in-house assessors for work capability assessments and personal independence payment assessments who will be directly employed by her Department.
Answered by Chloe Smith
We have launched our first recruitment advert for Healthcare Professionals (closing date 03 February) for 10 roles in our existing Health Transformation Area sites in London and Birmingham.
Individuals appointed from this advert will work alongside existing Healthcare Professionals provided by Advanced Personnel Management Group (UK) Ltd.
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, if she will place in the Library details of the procurement process that resulted in Advanced Personnel Management Group (UK) Ltd being contracted to undertake disability benefit assessments and other work under the Health Transformation Programme.
Answered by Chloe Smith
DWP undertook an EU open procurement exercise for the provision of Additional Healthcare Capacity services in 2018. Upon conclusion of the exercise APM (UK) Ltd were awarded the contract to provide these services.
The details of the procurement process are publicly available and can be found on www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk.
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 11 November 2021 to Question 65471 on the Health Transformation Programme, how many assessors are on secondment to her Department from Advanced Personnel Management Group (UK) Ltd; and how many (a) work capability assessments and (b) personal independence payment assessments they have undertaken since May 2021.
Answered by Chloe Smith
There are currently 28 Healthcare Professionals employed by Advanced Personnel Management Group (UK) Ltd working in the Health Transformation Area (HTA). There were 13 Healthcare Professionals in the HTA when it first began operating.
In the HTA, we have completed just over 500 PIP and close to 1500 WCA assessments.
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 estimate she has made of the proportion of economically inactive people who are waiting for an (a) universal credit or (b) other benefit assessment.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The definition of economic inactivity, set by the independent Office for National Statistics (ONS), is not used within the welfare system to determine eligibility for support through Universal Credit or other benefits.
The economically inactive population is a diverse group, many of whom do not claim Universal Credit or other benefits.
Therefore, the Department has made no such estimates.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that staff conducting benefit assessments with people suffering from ME and long covid patients are aware of the harmful impact of inappropriate exercise, over-exertion and exposure to light, sound, touch and new environments on those people.
Answered by Chloe Smith
We have interpreted your question to mean what steps her department is taking to ensure that staff conducting health and disability benefit assessments with people suffering from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) / Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME) and Long Covid patients are aware of the harmful impact of inappropriate exercise, over-exertion and exposure to light, sound, touch and new environments on those people.
All Health Professionals (HPs) carrying out health and disability assessments are clinically qualified practitioners. They are subject to a rigorous recruitment process followed by a comprehensive training programme in disability assessment.
CFS / ME and Long Covid are medically recognised conditions associated with a range of disabling effects which depend upon the severity of the condition. HPs who undertake assessments on behalf of the department are trained to assess the disabling effects of these conditions, and have access to learning material on both Long Covid and CFS / ME. They do not advise on treatment or management of conditions.
Personal Independence Payment (PIP) assessment provider, Capita, developed a Condition Insight Report on Long Covid, which was released to HPs on 17 May 2021, and is utilising Long Covid in scenarios embedded into various training programmes and modules as they are being updated.
PIP assessment provider, Independent Assessment Services (IAS), has a training module on coronaviruses and has also sent out a shortened clinical bulletin to their HPs in March 21.
All Centre for Health and Disability Assessments (CHDA) Healthcare Professionals (HCPs), who carry out the Work Capability Assessment (WCA) and assessments for Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit (IIDB), were issued with a distance learning module on Long Covid in June 2021.