Select committee: Work and Pensions Committee
Conclusion 15
Fifth Report - Health assessments for benefits
Published 14 Apr 2023
Paragraph 61
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)
Just as a one-size-fits-all approach does not work for assessments, the same is true for applications and contact channels. We welcome progress towards better online provision, but digital does not work for everyone and people’s independence should not be compromised by poor accessibility. As the Department moves towards a single digital platform for health benefits, it must ensure the system is accessible to everyone, and that alternative formats and channels are easily available to those that need them, and maintained and updated in the long-term alongside the digital platform.
From: Work and Pensions Committee, Fifth Report - Health assessments for benefits (HC 128), paragraph 61, 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".