It is almost a textbook example of how not to do government. Today my colleagues and I on the work and pensions select committee have released a report on the performance of the Department for Work and Pensions, and the rollout of personal independence payment stood out for its incompetence.
PIP replaces disability living allowance for people of working age, and is intended to help with the additional costs of living with a disability.
This change took effect for new claimants in June 2013. Systematic reassessment of existing DLA claimants will not start until October 2015, but in certain areas anyone who turns 16 or reports a change in circumstances, or whose time-limited award ends, will have to apply for PIP (so-called ‘natural reassessment’).
By the time both processes are complete in 2018, the Department for Work and Pensions expects 450,000 existing DLA claimants to lose all support, while 510,000 will receive PIP but at a lower level than DLA.
The main issue our report highlights is the long delays people are facing before they are given a decision on their eligibility. Take my constituent Jane, for example. She suffers from Huntingdon’s Disease and applied for PIP in September. Although she had a face-to-face assessment on 18 November, she was told on 14 February that it would be another six weeks before she got a decision. This means the process will have taken six months from start to finish, and could last longer if Jane is refused and chooses to appeal.
We recommend that DWP invoke penalty clauses in its contracts with Atos and Capita – who carry out the face-to-face assessments – and clear the existing backlog before it rolls out natural reassessment to different parts of the country.
But why have these delays arisen in the first place?
It starts with the fact that the decision to abolish DLA and replace it with PIP was driven by a desire to save money. ‘Justifications’ for needing a new benefit were crafted to fit. The DWP has come to believe its own propaganda, claiming far too many people were receiving DLA without time limits or assessments. This in turn has driven the shape of the new processes and what the contractors have been asked to do.
Then, fatally, the DWP failed to properly pilot the assessment process. Although new claims opened in the north of England in April 2013, this was only two months before PIP went live nationwide. Within weeks we were told that far more people were being called in for face-to-face assessments than expected, because the initial forms proved to be badly designed. In addition each assessment was taking twice as long as expected and all assessments were being audited internally, raising questions about skills and training.
All of these issues could have been ironed out with a proper pilot.
My committee raised doubts about this in advance, but these were brushed off. Our new report should put ministers in no doubt about the scale of the problem they face – Iain Duncan Smith and his department need to get a grip.
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Sheila Gilmore is member of parliament for Edinburgh East. She tweets @SheilaGilmoreMP
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