Social Security Benefits: Medical Examinations

(asked on 11th February 2019) - View Source

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 potential merits of co-ordinating re-assessments for disabled claimants in receipt of employment support allowance and personal independence payments to avoid people having to undergoing multiple re-assessments.


Answered by
Justin Tomlinson Portrait
Justin Tomlinson
This question was answered on 18th March 2019

We are committed to assessing people with health conditions and disabilities fairly and accurately, helping people to access the right support. We have already introduced the Severe Conditions Criteria for Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)/Universal Credit (UC) claimants who have the most severe and lifelong health conditions. As well as providing ongoing awards with light touch review at ten years for Personal Independence Payment (PIP) claimants with the highest needs, where those needs will not improve.

I do consider there are potential merits, and the Department recently announced our intention to create an integrated service for PIP and Work Capability Assessments to join up processes around the assessments. This will streamline the customer journey, enabling more user-friendly and joined-up benefit systems. Going further we will also test the feasibility of using a single assessment to determine eligibility for PIP or capability for work within UC/ESA where claims are initially made for both benefits. This should inform our approach to reassessments.

Reticulating Splines