DWP quietly admits it never had ‘capacity’ for repeat PIP reviews for pensioners with disabilities The revelation was made in the Office for Budget Responsibility’s fiscal report

“We need an overhaul of the assessment to iron out the mistrust” James Taylor, Scope

Amber Rudd’s decision to cut back on benefits assessments for pensioners with disabilities was partly driven by “capacity constraints” at the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).

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The admission, quietly revealed in the Office for Budget Responsibility’s (OBR) economic outlook report, suggests the DWP never had sufficient staffing levels to carry out the repeat assessments for personal independent payments (PIP) alongside its other workloads.

The news appears to undermine Ms Rudd’s earlier announcement that she wanted to improve how the DWP supported older people by bringing an end to regular PIP reviews for pensioners with disabilities.

Repeat assessments to check eligibility for PIP, a benefit intended to help pay for extra living costs as a result of having a disability or long term condition, have been labelled “unnecessary and stressful” for claimants.

Pensioners ‘deserve full support’

Announcing the reform at the beginning of March, the Work and Pensions Secretary said: “Disabled pensioners have paid into our system for their whole lives and deserve the full support of the state when they need it most. This Government, therefore, intends to change the landscape for disabled people in Britain: to level the terrain and smooth their path.”

In the report, which provides economic forecasts for the Spring Statement, the OBR commented on the Government’s decision to push back the full PIP roll-out (FPR), which is replacing the disability living allowance.

According to the document, the DWP told the OBR it was facing “longer-term capacity constraints in simultaneously delivering FPR, scheduled award reviews and the processing of new claims”.

It later informed the body it would prioritise completing FPR over scheduling PIP award reviews, suggesting the DWP did not have the capacity to do both.

The OBR’s document reads: “DWP has confirmed that December’s announcement prioritises completion of FPR over processing scheduled award reviews for some claimants. The secretary of state subsequently announced that reviews would cease for all claimants above the State Pension age, unless they request one.”

As a result of the prioritisation, the DWP said FPR will be completed by October 2020.

“But given the repeated delays and evidence of pressure on operational capacity in DWP and its providers, we have assumed that the process will not be completed until February 2021,” according to the OBR.

‘Troubling’

James Taylor, head of policy at disability equality charity Scope, said it was “troubling that the Government’s PIP assessment system appears to be understaffed”.

“Rather than working to self-imposed deadlines, it’s more important that the Government takes urgent action to get their decision making right.

“PIP exists because life costs more if you are disabled, and it’s vital that disabled people get the support they need. Disabled people rely on PIP to live independently and be part of their community.

“We need an overhaul of the assessment to iron out the mistrust, lack of transparency and the routine inaccuracies that disabled people regularly report to us,” he added.

Universal Credit slow down

Elsewhere in the OBR’s document, it was claimed that slowing down the roll-out of Universal Credit was driven by the need to cut costs.

In January, Ms Rudd announced that managed migration – which will move all existing benefits claimants to Universal Credit – was to be pushed back from its July 2019 start date. Instead, she said, there would be a 12-month pilot to move 10,000 claimants over to Universal Credit.

Managed migration stipulates that claimants’ benefits will be protected when they move from the old benefits system to Universal Credit. This means claimants are given an extra amount of money to top up their Universal Credit award to ensure they are not worse off. But those who move to Universal Credit before managed migration begins – because of a change in circumstance, for example – will not have transitional protection.

Although Ms Rudd said delaying managed migration, which would have affected three million people, would allow the DWP to monitor the way the system works through the pilot, her department will also save money by not having to provide transitional protection in the meantime.

The OBR commented: “We now see less risk that the pilot phase will be delayed and have greater confidence that the gradual build-up in volumes that follows can be delivered. In part, this is because the Government has reduced volumes to well below DWP’s operational capacity in order to reduce the costs associated with transitional protection for claimants who would otherwise lose out relative to their legacy benefit claim and those associated with claimants who would gain from UC relative to legacy benefits but are only expected to move to UC via managed migration.

“We have therefore removed the six-month contingency from all but the final phase of DWP’s rollout plan, assuming that it ends in June 2024,” said the OBR.

Responding to the contents of the OBR’s report, the DWP said: “Our priority is to significantly improve how we support disabled people which is why we are removing unnecessary PIP reviews for State Pension aged claimants.”