Asked by: Marion Fellows (Scottish National Party - Motherwell and Wishaw)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people with multiple sclerosis have had their award changed at the mandatory reconsideration stage after being assessed by phone for personal independence payment since March 2020.
Answered by Chloe Smith
The specific information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost. Telephone assessments only commenced for Personal Independence Payment (PIP) in late March 2020 and were then used as one of the alternatives to face to face assessments. For the two providers of medical assessments this was on 23rd March 2020 (Capita) and 6th April 2020 (IAS) respectively.
Therefore, the majority of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) assessments after March 2020 would have been by telephone, with some paper- based and video call assessments. Where it was not possible to carry out a PIP telephone assessment decisions were made on paper using all the available evidence to ensure any payment was not delayed. We do not readily hold the information on how assessments were carried out for specific conditions.
Face to face assessments for Work Capability Assessments (WCAs) for Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) and Universal Credit (UC) were re-introduced in May. They have initially focused on claimants who we have been unable to assess fully by other means. Paper-based assessments, as before the COVID-19 pandemic, are considered in the first instance, and telephone assessments and video assessments introduced in response to the pandemic continue to take place where appropriate.
Asked by: Marion Fellows (Scottish National Party - Motherwell and Wishaw)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people with multiple sclerosis applying for benefits have been unable to have a phone assessment and have had to wait for a face-to-face assessment since March 2020.
Answered by Chloe Smith
The specific information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost. Telephone assessments only commenced for Personal Independence Payment (PIP) in late March 2020 and were then used as one of the alternatives to face to face assessments. For the two providers of medical assessments this was on 23rd March 2020 (Capita) and 6th April 2020 (IAS) respectively.
Therefore, the majority of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) assessments after March 2020 would have been by telephone, with some paper- based and video call assessments. Where it was not possible to carry out a PIP telephone assessment decisions were made on paper using all the available evidence to ensure any payment was not delayed. We do not readily hold the information on how assessments were carried out for specific conditions.
Face to face assessments for Work Capability Assessments (WCAs) for Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) and Universal Credit (UC) were re-introduced in May. They have initially focused on claimants who we have been unable to assess fully by other means. Paper-based assessments, as before the COVID-19 pandemic, are considered in the first instance, and telephone assessments and video assessments introduced in response to the pandemic continue to take place where appropriate.
Asked by: Marion Fellows (Scottish National Party - Motherwell and Wishaw)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of personal independence claimants had their award changed at mandatory reconsideration stage following (a) an assessment by phone and (b) a face-to-face assessment between 1 April 2019 and 31 March 2020.
Answered by Chloe Smith
The specific information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost. Telephone assessments were not used before late March 2020. For the two providers of medical assessments this was on 23rd March 2020 (Capita) and 6th April 2020 (IAS) respectively. Therefore, the vast majority of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) assessments for 2019-20 would have been face-to-face, with some paper based assessments.
The available information on PIP Mandatory Reconsiderations (MRs) and appeals in relation to Personal Independence Payment is published here:
Personal Independence Payment statistics to July 2021 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Asked by: Marion Fellows (Scottish National Party - Motherwell and Wishaw)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department plans to provide personal independence payment claimants with a choice of being assessed by phone or face-to-face; and if her Department will take steps to help ensure that claimants can make an informed choice about how they would prefer to be assessed.
Answered by Chloe Smith
In Shaping Future Support: The Health & Disability Green Paper, we are consulting on the use of telephone and video assessments as an alternative to face-to-face in the future. We have asked for views about the different ways to provide assessments, and how to improve telephone assessments to ensure they are as accurate and effective as possible.
Asked by: Marion Fellows (Scottish National Party - Motherwell and Wishaw)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of the (a) challenges and (b) merits of personal independence payment phone assessments.
Answered by Chloe Smith
During the coronavirus pandemic, we carried out assessments by telephone as a temporary measure. The feedback on telephone assessments has so far been positive: in a recent survey published by the Department, the majority of people who had a telephone assessment for PIP or for their WCA were ‘satisfied’ or ‘very satisfied’.
In Shaping Future Support: The Health and Disability Green Paper, we are consulting on the use of telephone and video assessments as an alternative to face-to-face in the future and want to fully evaluate their effectiveness. We have asked for views about the different ways to provide assessments, and how to improve telephone assessments to ensure they are as accurate and effective as possible. It is important that people continue to receive consistent and accurate decisions irrespective of the type of assessment they go through.
DWP Survey results of claimants who have received a telephone assessment are published here: Claimant experience of telephone-based health assessments for PIP, ESA and UC - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Asked by: Marion Fellows (Scottish National Party - Motherwell and Wishaw)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, on what date her Department received the final report of the NatCen research project entitled The uses of health and disability benefits; and for what reason that report has not been published.
Answered by Chloe Smith
I refer the honourable member to the answer given to 43382.
Asked by: Marion Fellows (Scottish National Party - Motherwell and Wishaw)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people in receipt of (a) benefits and (b) state pension who have not registered a bank account with her Department still receive payments through a Post Office card account.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
As of August 2021 there were less than 350k active Post Office Card Accounts. This is down from 1 million in 2019.
The exact number of Post Office card account customers in receipt of a) benefit and b) State Pension is not available for a variety of reasons.
Asked by: Marion Fellows (Scottish National Party - Motherwell and Wishaw)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many payments her Department has made to Post Office card accounts in each of the last five months.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Month | Total |
Apr-21 | 701,400 |
May-21 | 654,500 |
Jun-21 | 596,600 |
Jul-21 | 543,900 |
Aug-21 | 488,200 |
Government payments into a Post Office card account do not reflect the number of customers as multiple payments can be made into an account during a month depending on varying pay dates of State Pension and benefits.
Asked by: Marion Fellows (Scottish National Party - Motherwell and Wishaw)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what support is available through the Child Maintenance Service for parents-with-care who have evidence that a non-resident parent is working when they have claimed they are not.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Child Maintenance Service (CMS), introduced a Financial Investigations Unit (FIU) in April 2014. They are responsible for investigating allegations of criminal or civil activities that negatively impact the correct amount of child maintenance being calculated. The FIU deal with a variety of different cases such as, allegations of fraud when attending or supplying a DNA test and allegations that the Paying Parent (PP) has failed to report their true level of income.
The FIU deploy a range of different investigative techniques that are tailored to the allegation and circumstances of the case. This involves gathering independent evidence from a range of sources and where applicable working with stakeholders such as Counter Fraud and Compliance Directorate (CFCD) in joint operations. Once an investigation is concluded, where a discrepancy in income is found, the CMS will recalculate the amount of maintenance due to be paid.
Asked by: Marion Fellows (Scottish National Party - Motherwell and Wishaw)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what guidance her Department provides to employers to make them aware of their legal requirements to protect employees who are extremely clinically vulnerable.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Throughout the pandemic, HSE has encouraged businesses to manage risks in order to reduce the transmission of COVID-19 in workplaces; including through the provision of detailed guidance (https://www.hse.gov.uk/coronavirus/working-safely/index.htm). This includes guidance on the importance of cleaning, hygiene and handwashing, providing adequate ventilation and social distancing (to note, measures on social distancing are subject to imminent change due to the easing of restrictions across the UK).
HSE and Local Authorities use a range of interventions to influence, encourage and advise business and, where necessary, hold to account those who fail to meet their responsibilities. Throughout the pandemic, HSE has engaged with businesses through the three stage Spot Check process which includes phone calls and, where face to face contact is necessary, site visits. Determining whether businesses have implemented the controls identified by this risk assessment is a central part of the process.
Employers’ health and safety responsibilities include taking reasonable steps to protect all workers and others from the risk of transmission of COVID-19 in connection with their work activities. As these control measures apply to all workers, regardless of their relative levels of vulnerability or the potential outcome, there are no expectations of additional control measures for Clinically Extremely Vulnerable (CEV) workers or the need for individual risk assessments.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) advises employers to have individual discussions with their CEV employees about any workplace concerns and understand what is in place to protect them. There is specific guidance on the HSE website to support employers to do this https://www.hse.gov.uk/coronavirus/working-safely/protect-people.htm