Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) and the Personal Independence Payment (PIP) provide vital financial support to disabled people.
Applying for PIP or ESA—and in doing so, facing up to the full limitations imposed by a health condition—can be stressful and challenging.
PIP and ESA claimants should be able to rely on their benefit assessments being efficient, fair and consistent. Most claimants proceed through their assessments without significant problems, but a sizable minority do not.
290,000 people claiming PIP and ESA only received the correct award after challenging DWP's decisions
These cases, alongside other recurrent problems with applications and assessments, have implications far beyond the minority of claimants who are directly affected by poor decision-making.
Failings throughout the process have contributed to widespread perceptions of an unreliable, opaque and unfriendly system.
Claimants and those supporting them told us that they lack trust in both PIP and ESA.
"One assessor said I had full movement in my toes although the podiatrist said at the time it was only 20%. I still can't work out how she could tell considering I was wearing leather winter boots which she did not ask me to remove."
Concerns about the ability of the Department's contractors—Atos, Capita and Maximus—to carry out accurate assessments are at the heart of claimants' lack of trust.
None of the PIP and ESA providers has ever met key performance targets set for them.
The Department for Work and Pensions must take immediate action to rebuild trust and improve the quality of its decision-making.
We are calling on the Department of Work and Pensions to:
1. Immediately introduce audio recording of all assessments and provide a copy of the assessor's report to claimants
2. Improve understanding among claimants and health and social care professionals of what "good evidence" is for PIP and ESA assessments
3. Ensure contractor assessors make good use of expert evidence in their reports, and that this is clearly demonstrated to claimants
4. Improve the accessibility of the processes at every stage, including application forms and home assessments
5. Learn from overturned decisions and improve its quality control over contractors—now, and in any future contracts.
Audio recording the face-to-face PIP and ESA assessments would increase transparency and restore trust in the process
The Government's Department for Work and Pensions has two months to respond to our recommendations
Read our full report on the PIP and ESA Assessments and find out more about our inquiry on our website.
