Asked by: Chris Ruane (Labour - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the proportion of personal independence payment reports completed by ATOS that were categorised as (a) unacceptable and (b) learning required in each of the last four years.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
Independent Assessment Services (IAS), previously Atos Healthcare carries out Personal Independence Payment (PIP) consultations in Scotland, North East and North West England, London and Southern England. Capita carry out PIP consultations in Wales and Central England.
PIP reports are graded as either ‘acceptable’, ‘acceptable with feedback’, ‘acceptable with amendments’ or ‘unacceptable’. The table below provides IAS figures for all these categories and is only available from April 2016.
Grades | Apr 16- Mar 17 | Apr 17-Mar 18 | Apr 18-Mar 19 |
Acceptable | 7,300 | 7,930 | 7,480 |
Acceptable with Feedback | 1,380 | 1,820 | 1,990 |
Acceptable with Amendments | 650 | 1,220 | 1,780 |
Unacceptable | 460 | 620 | 500 |
Total Audited | 9,790 | 11,590 | 11,750 |
Figures rounded to the nearest 10
Data obtained from the CHES MI Team
Asked by: Chris Ruane (Labour - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, on how many occasions the Inter-Ministerial Group on disability and society has met in each of the last two years; and which ministers attended each of those meetings.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
The new Inter-Ministerial Group on Disability and Society was established in spring/summer 2018, and met on Wednesday 4th July 2018, on Wednesday 31st October 2018 and on Monday 25th March 2019.
Details about the meetings, including ministerial attendance are confidential to allow full and frank discussions between Government Ministers and ensure the effectiveness of ministerial discussions and collective decision-making processes.
Asked by: Chris Ruane (Labour - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the proportion of ill-health related job losses that have been attributed to (a) mental ill and (b) physical ill health in each of the last three years.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
Recently published analysis of new data in the 2018 Annual Population Survey (APS) shows that 104,000 people leave work following a long-term sickness absence every year. Of the 99,000 people that left work and reported the health condition that was the main cause of their long-term sickness absence, 37,000 of them reported that the main condition causing their long-term sickness absence was mental health, 25,000 reported that it was because of a musculoskeletal condition and 37,000 reported other health conditions including some physical health conditions.
DWP/DHSC, 2019, Health in the workplace – patterns of sickness absence, employer support and employment retention, https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/health-in-the-workplace-patterns-of-sickness-absence-employer-support-and-employment-retention
Asked by: Chris Ruane (Labour - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate she has made of the cost to her Department of fraudulent universal credit claims since the roll-out of universal credit.
Answered by Lord Sharma
The Department is open and transparent about the cost of fraud and error in the benefit system, publishing our National “Fraud and Error in the Benefit System” statistics each year which detail the amount we estimate is lost to both fraud and error across all benefits.
The latest publication to Gov.uk was made on 9 May 2019 and contains estimates of fraud and error in Universal Credit. The publication can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/fraud-and-error-in-the-benefit-system-financial-year-2018-to-2019-estimates
As UC expenditure increases, we would also expect to see an increase in the value of fraud and error. We also expect a further increase as UC involves significantly expanding the Department’s caseload and expenditure to include Tax Credits, which were previously administered by Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs.
The design of UC is expected to lead to a reduction in overpayments across welfare. UC allows us to adjust benefit entitlement in line with changing circumstances in real time. Internal and external data matches are increasingly helping to inform benefit payments and alerting staff to check for any undeclared changes in people’s circumstances.
Asked by: Chris Ruane (Labour - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate she has made of the number of fraudulent universal credit loan claims since the roll-out of those loans.
Answered by Lord Sharma
Advances are designed to ensure that the most vulnerable claimants receive the money they need to live on during their transition to Universal Credit (UC).
It is important to make clear that the vast majority of claims to UC Advances are legitimate.
As at the end of June 2019, potential fraudulent advance claims equate to less than 1 per cent of all Universal Credit claims.
The Department takes this issue very seriously and will investigate all claims where fraud may have been committed. Indeed, we have set up a dedicated team to investigate this specific type of fraud.
We are also committed to the use of penalties such as prosecutions and tough financial penalties to discourage this fraudulent behaviour.
Asked by: Chris Ruane (Labour - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 9 July 2019 to Question 273334, if she will make it her Department's policy to mandate her Department's assessors to record instances in which they have formally questioned a prognosis given by health professionals in DS1500 forms.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
Guidance for assessors is that they should contact the clinician who has completed a DS1500 for clarification if it contains insufficient information, or where no DS1500 is received, to confirm that the claimant is terminally ill. The assessor will record the outcome of their engagement with the clinician when providing their advice to the Department, but these records are not centrally collated.
To be clear, the DS1500 states that the clinician is not required to provide a prognosis. Rather, they are asked to provide details of their patient’s diagnosis, clinical features and current or planned treatment.
Asked by: Chris Ruane (Labour - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the proportion of single room properties that were affordable for local housing allowance claimants in each region of England in (a) 2010 and (b) the most recent period for which data is available.
Answered by Will Quince
In 2010, Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rates were set at the 50th percentile of local rents, so half of non-housing benefit properties in the private rented sector were available within the LHA rate.
The proportion of non-housing benefit single room accommodation available within the LHA rate by region in England for 2018/19 are as follows:
East Midlands | 15% |
Eastern | 13% |
London | 8% |
North East | 14% |
North West | 15% |
South East | 14% |
South West | 15% |
West Midlands | 16% |
Yorkshire & The Humber | 21% |
Note: figures are exclusive of housing benefit properties as the lettings data used to calculate the LHA is exclusive of tenancies where the claimant is in receipt of housing benefit.
There are no current plans to extend or maintain the LHA Freeze after March 2020. Specific decisions on how to uprate the Local Housing Allowance rates from April 2020 will form part of the discussions in support of fiscal events later this year.
Asked by: Chris Ruane (Labour - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many personal independence payment claims made under special rules and supported by a clinician via a DS1500 were rejected by her Department in each year for which data is available.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Chris Ruane (Labour - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, on how many occasions her Department's assessors have formally questioned a prognosis given by health professionals in DS1500 forms in each year for which data is available.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
The Department’s assessment providers do not record the information requested. If they have a question about information recorded on a DS1500, or if there is no DS1500 available, they have an obligation to contact the relevant clinician to obtain further information. If they do not have any questions about information on the DS1500, they do not need to contact the clinician who completed the form.
Asked by: Chris Ruane (Labour - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate she has made of the number of (a) personal independence payments and (b) employment and support allowance assessments undertaken by (i) ATOS, (ii) Capita, and (iii) Maximus which have resulted in a complaint in each of the last six years.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
Assessment Providers have their own complaints process to deal with dissatisfaction about the service they provide. I am unable to provide figures solely about the ‘assessment undertaken’ therefore the figures below include all related complaints such as administrative, clinical, accommodation etc.
(i), (ii) Information on the number of complaints received by Independent Assessment Service (IAS), formally ATOS, and Capita are shown in the table below: -
Year | Complaints received by IAS (prev ATOS) | Complaints received by Capita | Total number of complaints received | Complaints as a percentage of assessments |
2013 | 390 | 940 | 1320 | 3.5% |
2014 | 3090 | 5890 | 8980 | 2.2% |
2015 | 2690 | 1826 | 4510 | 0.7% |
2016 | 3780 | 3000 | 6780 | 0.7% |
2017 | 5400 | 3530 | 8930 | 0.9% |
2018 | 5870 | 3490 | 9360 | 1.0% |
Source: Provider MI, figures rounded to nearest 10.
(iii) The Health Assessment Advisory Service is delivered on behalf of DWP by Centre for Health and Disability Assessments (CHDA) which is a MAXIMUS company. Information on the number of complaints received by CHDA in relation to ESA and UC Work Capability Assessments is only available from quarter ending August 2016.
Quarter | Complaints received by CHDA | Complaints as a percentage of assessments |
Aug 16 | 1120 | 0.6% |
Nov 16 | 1170 | 0.7% |
Feb 17 | 1150 | 0.6% |
May 17 | 1230 | 0.7% |
Aug 17 | 1190 | 0.6% |
Nov 17 | 1140 | 0.6% |
Feb 18 | 1010 | 0.5% |
May 18 | 1020 | 0.6% |
Aug 18 | 980 | 0.5% |
Nov 18 | 970 | 0.5% |
Feb 19 | 950 | 0.5% |
May 19 | 930 | 0.5% |
Source: Provider MI, figures rounded to nearest 10