Statistics show that thousands of disabled people are still waiting over 16 weeks just to get an assessment
The DWP has published statistics on the coalition’s new Personal Independence Payments (PIPs). The stats show the government has failed – again – to get a grip of its new benefit, leaving thousands of disabled people without support.
PIPs were introduced from April 2013 to replace Disability Living Allowance for working age claimants. But Iain Duncan Smith soon performed his ‘reverse-Midas’.
Delays, backlogs and criticism forced the department to revise rollout plans significantly. The majority of DLA claimants were to be assessed after October 2015. The NAO still warned that DWP was not on track, disabled people were hit by the impact of delays and the OBR revised DLA/PIP forecasts six times as a result of repeated ministerial failures to get a grip.
Ministers also shifted the timetable for how long disabled people seeking PIPs can expect to wait for support. Initial plans proposed 12-15 weeks from claims to decisions by DWP. This became an expected 26 weeks just for people to get an assessment as part of the new, multi-million pound process; additional weeks of delays are experienced waiting for DWP to process applications and make decisions.
Despite the much lower number of people requiring PIP assessments and the extended waiting times, DWP still failed to clear the backlog. Last month the process was subject to significant criticism by the independent reviewer in a report published by DWP. It concluded that not enough was being done to tackle delays for disabled people.
IDS and the minister for Disabled People published ad hoc stats today in response to a debate secured by Labour last week. The stats were an attempt to demonstrate DWP is meeting the promise ministers made to deliver all assessments within 16 weeks by the end of 2014.
This promise was secured during an Opposition Day Debate called by shadow secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Rachel Reeves MP in June 2014.
But the stats show that thousands of disabled people are still waiting over 16 weeks just to get an assessment. This week the Guardian reported on one man with cancer who has waited ten months for an assessment. The fudged stats also pose more questions than ministers have been willing to answer:
Why are one in ten people still waiting more than 16 weeks for an assessment?
Why are over 180,000 people still stuck in a backlog waiting to have their claims assessed?
How many of the 64,000 claims that have been ‘disallowed’ by the department were due to disabled people being unable to supply medical information from GPs and hospital consultants within the timeframe stipulated by DWP; and how many of them will simply reapply?
How many of the 143,000 disallowed claims were due to disabled people being unable to attend assessments; and how many of them will reapply?
And how long is the average wait from claim to DWP decision for disabled people and their families across the country?
DWP has admitted it had to employ 76 additional temporary staff to try and reduce the backlog. But DWP hasn’t said how many staff in total it’s had to redeploy to cope with the delays in the benefit.
Nor do we know when DWP expects rollout of PIP to be complete; how many disabled people will not qualify for support; and how much more will it cost overall than initially projected.
Disabled people are right to feel aggrieved by the way the government has mishandled this issue, leaving thousands without help for months. Labour are committed to tackling the delays and the backlog that’s built up.
We’ll also ensure no one with cancer waits longer than 11 weeks for PIP assessments. After months of Tory welfare waste, and hardship for thousands of claimants, it’s time to get a grip.
Kate Green MP is the shadow minister for Disabled People. Follow her on Twitter
34 Responses to “The Tories’ PIP failure has left thousands of disabled people without support”
cat
Between the devil and the deep blue sea. They’re both terrible, the Tories are just worse.
Vanessa
I waited 24 weeks for my assessment by Atos. WHAT A FARSE. The examination didn’t relate to my disability of vasculitis.wegeners granulomatosis. With orbital inflammation. Swollen blood vessels and arteries. Anxiety. Joint pain, carpal tunnel syndrome, have wrist splints, muscle pain. Poor memory. DWP wrote back to say i was unsuccessful. No help at all for me. Really. I will appeal. I have another brain scan this Saturday and seeing a rheumatologist and neurologist next week. Am having all my nerve damage assessed. Will have chemo or chemo typewriter, many more trips to hospital. Been going through this since 2013, October. But that’s ok, I don’t qualify for help. Really!!!!!! I had to give up my job of 5 years as was a liability.temporarily lose vision. But I don’t qualify for help. Government want to review the system and sort it out.
Graeme
My daughter has a number of disabilities which I won’t go into but suffice to say at 21 she has a mental age of 7. She has a physical condition which, short of a miracle, she’ll have for life, she suffers from anxiety attacks and has type one diabetes.
In May 2014 we were sent a DLA renewal form which I promptly completed and returned with all the supporting evidence requested and then some. It was returned in the prepaid, pre addressed brown envelope provided. Six weeks later I hadn’t heard anything and my daughters financial support was due to end so I contacted the DLA via telephone. They said they had no record of the firm being received and would urgently send out a replacement which I would need to complete asap. Now anyone who’s ever completed these forms will know that they take some completing but I dud it straight away and regs there’d supporting evidence some of which I had to pay a fee for. This time I returned the form by recorded delivery but once again I got nothing back and my daughters payments stopped. I contacted the DLA again and was told that they had the firm but that it was the wrong form as the region had moved to PIPs. I explained that the that it was sent to me by DLA and had been completed immediately but they said my daughters case was now closed and no backdating or future payments would or could be made, no appeal no chance whatsoever. They just passed the buck and gave me the number for PIPs, when ringing PIPs they said DLA were wrong and should backdate and reinstate payments immediately. I rang DLA. And they said PIPs were wrong, you get the picture.
Now we’ve had no money for about 5 months and PIPs are saying the new claim will take a further 6 months to evaluate and complete. In the meantime I am no longer classed as my daughters carer because she’s not in receipt of disability, I cannot receive Income support for the same reason, I can’t sign on for Job seekers because I’m unavailable for work because I have to care for my daughter. Because I get neither I can’t get any help with Council a Tax or Housing Benefit which means my Landlord has placed a notice of seeking possession on the house, our home of 20 years.
I’m caught in a limbo, I can’t leave my daughter to go to work and I don’t have any money coming in at all. I’m soon to be evicted and the Housing Association say they have no obligation to rehouse us. By the time this is sorted we will have had no money coming in for just short of a year and will be homeless.
Before becoming a single parent of four children 18 years ago I had never been out of work since the age of 16 when I left school
The only thing they said is a suggestion to apply for crisis help!
They don’t care!
We are cannon fodder, a statistic, collateral damage!
Leon Wolfeson
Very arguable.
treborc1
Ms Reeves is about as interested as Tony Blair was with Welfare .
I’m going through it now and I am not as serious as your sister I’ve got a lesion of the spinal cord, loss of bowel and bladder and chronic never ending pain.
I’ve an implanted morphine pump which stops me over dosing sadly I’m unlikely even with Paraplegia to get the award.