The Minister for Disabled People, Health and Work Justin Tomlinson has said “there is a bit of confusion” in respect of the integrated PIP and ESA assessment announced on 5 March 2019.

Mr. Tomlinson added that he expected that the reform would effect “very few people”.

Speaking in a 24 March Parliamentary debate marking ten years of the work capability assessment, the Minister said:

“There is a bit of confusion in terms of what people thought that this would be. The view was that it ultimately would be a panacea whereby people would go for one single assessment for PIP and for the work capability assessment.

The reality is that very few people apply for both benefits at a similar point in time. However, for the very few people who do, it might make sense for them to have, if they wish, both of the assessments on the same day instead of having to come in on the Monday and then again on the Wednesday. That may be what people want to do, but we are talking about very small numbers.

The thrust of this is to share evidence if the claimant wishes that to be done. One point that many hon. Members made was about the challenge that often arises of getting the evidence, whether from the GP, the physiotherapist or the hospitals, in a timely manner and in a way that is helpful for their assessment.

If they have managed to do that once and they would like us to use that evidence again, with their consent, that is something that we would seek to do as part of building the new digital system and ensuring that the claimant has consistent, better information.

Being able to share evidence will reduce the burden of providing the same evidence multiple times. It could potentially lead to fewer face-to-face assessments if we can gather crucial, vital, clear-cut evidence earlier in the claim.”

Mr. Tomlinson also accepted that the long delays in the hearing of ESA and PIP was unacceptable and needed to be addressed:

“All of us as Members are frustrated when what seem to be clear-cut cases come to our constituency surgeries asking for our help. There are times when we think, “How on earth can this have happened?”, and ultimately the person could have a very long appeal process to go through to get the right decision.

In the majority of cases, appeals are successful because of additional oral and written evidence. That has to be addressed. We rightly are going to tackle it and will do so in two stages—first, with the Mandatory Reconsideration process.

We have started doing this with PIP. We are seeking to contact the claimant who is disputing a decision and talk to them directly to get the additional oral and, potentially, written evidence at that stage to see whether we can improve decisions at that point, rather than waiting for the evidence to come at the end of the appeal process.”

Acknowledging that claimants will submit additional, late written and oral evidence, the Minister added that:

“… We are looking at how we can lapse appeals, where there is new evidence, to reconsider the decision with the additional evidence and be able then to give them a different decision. If we do not think that that should change the decision, they have the right to carry on right through to the final appeal process, but if it is something that is clearly going to change the decision, we should act as quickly as possible.'”

Ken Butler DR UK’s Welfare Rights and Policy Adviser said:

“Disabled people would have more confidence in the work capability assessment if assessments were carried out by doctors or specialists who had experience of their disability or health condition.

Inaccurate assessments and recommendations as to someone’s true ability to “perform activities safely, to an acceptable standard, repeatedly and in a reasonable time” is resulting all too often in a process that denies them justice until their appeal before an independent tribunal.

But DR UK also argues that the work capability assessment itself must be the subject of fundamental reform. Any assessment for support must be able to capture an accurate picture of the barriers disabled people actually face.”

The debate on Ten Years of the Work Capability Assessment is available @ https://hansard.parliament.uk.

See also – DR UK response to Work and Pensions Committee PIP and ESA Assessments inquiry.