A report this week by House of Commons Select Committee on Work and Pensions has slated DWP (Department of Work and Pensions) contractors, like Capita and Atos, which carry out assessments for ESA (Employment and Support Allowance) and PIP (Personal Independence Payment) disability benefits.
The shocking report highlights failures by the contractors to conduct accurate assessments, informing that 290,000 claimants of PIP and ESA - 6% of all those assessed - only received the correct award after challenging the DWP's initial decision.
"We heard many reports of errors appearing in assessment reports" the Select Committee document states "Such experiences serve to undermine confidence amongst claimants. So does the proportion of DWP decisions overturned at appeal. At worst, there is an unsubstantiated belief among some claimants and their advisers that assessors are encouraged to misrepresent assessments deliberately in a way that leads to claimants being denied benefits.
"All three contractors carry out assessments using non-specialist assessors" it adds "Without good use of expert evidence to supplement their analysis, the Department will struggle to convince sceptical claimants that the decision on their entitlement is an informed one...It is extraordinary that basic deficiencies in the accessibility of PIP and ESA assessments remain, five and ten years respectively after their introduction.
"Claimants of PIP and ESA should be able to rely on assessments for those benefits being efficient, fair and consistent" the Select Committee concludes "Failings in the processes - from application, to assessment, to decision-making and to challenge mechanisms - have contributed to a lack of trust in both benefits. This risks undermining their entire operation."
Meanwhile, the private contractors have been cashing in, "despite quality targets having been universally missed", the report adds "The Government has also spent hundreds of millions of pounds more checking and defending the Department's decisions."
Recommending ultimately, that the assessments might be better conducted by 'in-house' government assessors, in the meantime the Select Committee urges new conditions to be put in place for transparency in the process...
'...Audio recordings of assessments...providing a copy of the assessors' reports to claimants...the use of expert evidence to supplement their analysis...a requirement for contractors to indicate how they have used all additional evidence supplied...an assurance that contractors communicate with claimants in ways that meet their needs...and that contractors should ensure that, when claimants bring a companion to assessment, their input is sought and recorded appropriately...'
In Salford, the latter recommendation is already being put into practice through the Salford Unemployed and Community Resource Centre (Salford UCRC)...
"While we welcome the report, and there are many positives, we do think that the time of just complaining has past" says Alec McFadden, manager of the Resource Centre "When it's raining you can complain but what you need to do is get an umbrella, and we've created an umbrella of ten trained people, who could be called companions or representatives, and are now going to the medical assessments with claimants.
"They are representing them and giving them the confidence to actually go, because a lot of people hear what it's like and don't even turn up, or cancel" he adds "But people are entitled to their PIP, ESA and other benefits, and the Select Committee report is one thousand per cent correct in that claimants do not trust the people who are doing the assessments from private companies. We've known this since 2012 when it gradually became worse and worse.
"Ours is a free service" he says "And it links directly into Salford City Council's anti-poverty strategy because we can reduce the poverty by getting people the state benefits that they are entitled to when they are disabled..."
To find out and access Salford UCRC's scheme phone 0161 789 2999
Cohens Chemist on Church Street in Eccles has also agreed to be the first chemist in Salford to hand out leaflets about the Salford UCRC service to disabled people getting prescriptions.
For a full background also see previous Salford Star articles – click here and click here
To read the full House of Commons Work and Pensions Select Committee report – click here
Main photo shows Pat, who was helped by the Salford UCRC with disability benefits. For the full story - click here
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