Select committee: Work and Pensions Committee
Recommendation 26
First Report: DWP's response to the coronavirus outbreak
Published 22 Jun 2020
Paragraph 147
Addressed to Department for Work and Pensions
Work and Pensions Committee DWP's response to the coronavirus outbreak All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
We know that offering claimants the option of recording assessments improves trust in the system, and leads to fairer decision-making with fewer appeals. Many expert organisations, and our predecessor Committee, have been calling for audio- recording of assessments for some time. The Minister’s enthusiasm for this policy is welcome—but it is now time that the Department’s contractors got on with delivering it. We recommend that the Department work with its contractors as a matter of urgency to offer audio-recording of assessments by default, subject to the claimant’s consent, no later than September 2020.
From: Work and Pensions Committee, First Report: DWP's response to the coronavirus outbreak (HC 178), paragraph 147, 22 June 2020
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 8 September 2020.
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government's response sets out DWP's actions on the Committee's recommendations, committing to some further work on health assessments, terminal illness guidance and publishing evidence on the self-employed, while giving reasons for not changing other policies.
- On legacy benefits, DWP has "no plans to increase these benefits further at this stage", and says rates will be reviewed in the autumn up-rating exercise for April 2021.
- On audio recording of assessments, the government says it is "currently developing an approach" for telephone PIP assessments and Work Capability Assessments, without stating a date.
- On health and safety inspections, it says a "new rigid numerical target system would hamper the effectiveness and flexibility of operations" and that HSE uses a risk based, intelligence led approach.
- On the Employment Bill, the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy "will bring forward detailed proposals on legislation in due course"; DWP "will look to publish evidence on the self-employed".