Select committee: Work and Pensions Committee
Conclusion 4
Fifth Report - Health assessments for benefits
Published 14 Apr 2023
Paragraph 28
Addressed to Department for Work and Pensions
Work and Pensions Committee Health assessments for benefits All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
We are deeply concerned to hear that nearly five years after our predecessor’s Report, people are still experiencing distress as a result of undergoing health assessments. In particular, our survey respondents spoke of the stress, anxiety and in some cases severe mental health impacts of the assessment process. That we are still hearing accounts of poor accessibility, factual inaccuracy, delays, and communication problems speaks to a system that is still not adequately supporting often vulnerable people. Accurate data is vital to addressing the serious impacts of assessments on claimants that this inquiry and other research have exposed. Prior to any changes to the health assessment process, including the abolition of the Work Capability Assessment, an external assessment should be undertaken on the potential physical and mental health effects of these changes on affected claimants.
From: Work and Pensions Committee, Fifth Report - Health assessments for benefits (HC 128), paragraph 28, 14 April 2023
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 26 June 2023 (deadline 14 June 2023).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The Department welcomes the Committee's report and says it 'wholeheartedly agrees' that assessments must be fit for purpose, while setting out where it accepts, declines or is still testing individual recommendations.
- It accepts the recommendation on accessible digital services (Recommendation 14) and agrees with the call to evaluate the Health Transformation Programme, having published an evaluation strategy on 25 May 2023.
- It does not support extending the deadline for returning ESA50, UC50 and PIP2 forms to two months, citing 15 years' experience and a balance between time to respond and getting the correct award in place "at the earliest opportunity".
- It remains "committed to retaining audio recording on an opt-in basis" rather than recording by default, and says payment of a PIP assessment rate "could lead to inappropriate expenditure of public funds".
- On timing, it says reforms would require primary legislation and would be rolled out "from no earlier than 2026/27", with improvements to the UC50 journey to be delivered "by the end of 2023".