Major change planned for PIP and WCA assessment system

[StarBright]

I had this in the Benefits & Work news letter. The news letter says:


MAJOR CHANGE TO PIP AND WCA ASSESSMENTS


The DWP are to introduce a major change to the assessment system for PIP and the work capability assessment for ESA and UC with just one company carrying out both assessments for any given claimant from August 2023.

This means that the same company will have to have expertise in both PIP assessments and the WCA and will be able to use some of the evidence from one type of assessment when carrying out the other for the same claimant.

At present, all WCA’s are carried out by Maximus.

PIP assessments are carried out by IAS (formerly Atos) and Capita.

Many readers will remember that Atos abandoned its WCA contract in 2014 after suffering years of increasingly negative publicity. The contract went to Maximus instead.

Atos may well be unhappy at the thought of returning to carrying out WCAs, but it seems to have little choice if it is to have any hope of holding on to its lucrative PIP contracts.

But the main concern is likely to be that insufficient and misleading evidence gathered for, say, a PIP assessment will then be used as part of the evidence for a WCA, even if the PIP decision is subsequently overturned on appeal.

In addition, whilst the DWP say that there are no plans for a single assessment for both PIP and the WCA, a real fear is that evidence about say mobility from one assessment will be taken into account for the other, even though the criteria are quite different.

The attraction of doing this for assessment providers is that assessments would be shorter and greater profits could be made.

The changes will not apply to Scotland, where PIP assessments will be carried out in-house by Social Security Scotland. Discussions are ongoing about changes to the system in Northern Ireland.

The link to their post on their website: https://www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/ne...ssment-system?

[nukecad]

TBH there is nothing really new there.

It's the usual political gesturing and if's/maybes' we have had for the last 10 years, and the same concerns.

The current contracts for doing assessments (PIP and WCAs) were only extended to 2023 last week, which I guess is what has prompted B&W to bring them up again.

No one knows what will happen after 2023, as said it's if's/maybes'.

There is a plan for the DWP to do all assessments 'in-house' and stop contracting them out, that was supposed to have started trials but like most other DWP plans has been delayed by covid.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/n...ents-announced

I notice that B&W article doesn't mention that 'in-house' plan at all, you have to ask why not. (Unless that is what they are refering to and just neglect to say that its in-house?)
I sometimes (often) question their (financial?) motives on what they do and don't report, and how they report it.
Others here already know my feelings about B&W charging a membership fee for access to advice (Advice that is usually freely available elsewhere if you look).

[StarBright]

I totally agree with you about B&W charging at all let alone how much they want from you for their "guides". That's why I don't use there to ask questions because they often refer you to buying their "guides"

So I'm just signed up to their free newsletter & from time to time have a look & see how people are getting on.

I thought this had been brought up before & as you say also "in house". I know that my ESA home assessment was used for my PIP renewal because of what the decision maker said. I had no problems with that because it was a good & fair assessment, if however I had a bad & unfair assessment then I wouldn't of been happy at all.

I want to live in Scotland they are leaving people who are ill alone instead of reassessing people every few years.

[walker]

i would disagree about b&w
their standard guides are free once you have paid membership and there are big discounts given to on going members

also the info in the guides, certainly as a mh client, i have not found anywhere else and it has proved invaluable

their guides are thorough and up to date

anyhow
i dont see why England should suffer a s**t service and Scotland get a better arrangement

i do so wish we could be a United Kingdom and have the same systems - preferably the most useful and appropriate ones

[gus607]

i would disagree about b&w
their standard guides are free once you have paid membership and there are big discounts given to on going members

also the info in the guides, certainly as a mh client, i have not found anywhere else and it has proved invaluable

their guides are thorough and up to date

anyhow
i dont see why England should suffer a s**t service and Scotland get a better arrangement

i do so wish we could be a United Kingdom and have the same systems - preferably the most useful and appropriate ones

In that case go & tell Wee Krankie because she won't be happy until Scotland rejoin the EU, well that's her pipe dream anyway. !
Wee Krankie will do everything her way just to annoy Westminster.

[nukecad]

free once you have paid membership

I like that, it's a wonderful example of an oxymoron.

[StarBright]

Now I'm confused

I signed up to the forum years ago, I have a user name & I can post on their forum, I don't want to but I could. Dose that not make me a member?

I've never been charged a penny but if I want access to the "guides" they want money.

So do they only call you a member if you pay for their guides?

If so isn't that just paying for the "guides" anyway

Anyway it does not matter because I don't want to use their "guides" I do however read other people's posts especially when I'm coming up for renewal of PIP or prognosis of ESA

[Stubby]

I looked into their site when i started on benefits and it was £19.95 a year to get access to any part of the site and looks like it still it. Then found this site and got all the info i needed.

[worried33]

This is nothing new other than making one company handle both.

Back in the IB days, I had a failed application for DLA, within two weeks they brought forward my IB assessment by several months, I was told straight over the phone it was because I failed the DLA claim.

In the past there have been people failing to get ESA, they then managed to get higher rate DLA awards, and the first ESA application after those awards was 3 years SG, when they were previously found FFW and answered the forms in the same way.

When I attended my last DLA tribunal (which I won), the DWP tried to submit a ESA WCA as evidence for denying me DLA. It was thrown out as I wasnt sent a copy.

[birdwatcher]

In that case go & tell Wee Krankie because she won't be happy until Scotland rejoin the EU, well that's her pipe dream anyway. !
Wee Krankie will do everything her way just to annoy Westminster.

Well, Scotland are devolved, and all power to them.
And why shouldn't Westminister be challenged? Who would just go along with this government? It doesn't even want to give the poorest in society scraps.