Benefit delay for disabled and sick people is ‘unacceptable’

The delays were criticised by the Work and Pensions Committee, which called on the Government to take urgent action to clear a backlog of cases.

The MPs also urged the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to invoke penalty clauses with assessment providers Atos Healthcare and Capital Business Services.

New claims for Personal Independence Payment (PIP), the replacement for Disability Living Allowance (DLA) as the benefit to help towards the extra costs of disability for people of working age, began in April 2013.

Most people applying for PIP undergo a face-to-face assessment to determine eligibility, which is carried out by the private contractors, but the committee said some claims were taking six months or more to process.

Some of the affected claimants are people with terminal illnesses.

The MPs said the backlog of claims should be cleared and the average time taken to process new cases reduced to the expected 74 days, and seven days for terminally ill people.

Labour MP Dame Anne Begg, who chairs the committee, said: “Many disabled or sick people face waits of six months or more for a decision on their PIP eligibility. Even those with terminal illnesses are having to wait far longer than was anticipated. This not only leaves people facing financial difficulties whilst they await a decision, but causes severe stress and uncertainty.

“It is vital that all disabled people, but especially the terminally ill, experience as little delay and stress as possible in making a claim. Basic failures – from appointments being cancelled without notice to unsatisfactory responses to queries about claims – are happening too often. Claimants, and their MPs, have often been unable to get any information about when a decision will finally be made.

“The Minister acknowledged that the service claimants were receiving from Atos and Capita –and in some cases from DWP itself – was not acceptable. Whilst this recognition is welcome, urgent action is also required. DWP should not only consider invoking penalty clauses in contracts, but must look at its own systems to ensure that the current dire situation is resolved.

“By the end of last year decisions had been made in fewer than 20 per cent of new claims submitted since April 2013. It is essential that the backlog is cleared before the limited
natural reassessment of existing DLA claims is extended any further.”