(Minister of State for
Disabled People, Health and Work): This Written
Statement is a fifth update to the House on progress in reviewing
and, where necessary, correcting past Employment and Support
Allowance (ESA) underpayments and paying arrears following
conversion from previous incapacity benefits.
Since my last update to the House in October 2018 we have made
significant progress. Due to the complex nature of these cases
they take considerably longer than the average ESA case to
complete. To ensure we make rapid and accurate progress we have
therefore increased the number of staff working on putting these
cases right from around 400 to approximately 1,200. This
additional resource has led to a substantial increase in the
number of cases that we have reviewed, corrected and paid arrears
where due.
We have made good progress and by 11 February had:
- started 310,000 claimants on the reassessment journey;
- paid arrears of over £328 million to 58,000 people; and,
- completed action on 207,000 cases 1.
Based on the progress made since October we believe we are on
track to complete work on the majority of the original 320,000
cases by April 2019 (Phase 1). Unfortunately, some cases where
the claimant sadly died prior to the exercise starting, are
taking a significant period of time to resolve due to
difficulties in identifying the next of kin or executors. There
are around 20,000 deceased cases included in Phase 1 that require
review. While we continue to progress this work, we expect that
the Department will need until the end of 2019 to complete these
cases.
Following our announcement in July 2018 that we will review and
pay cases back to the date they were converted from incapacity
benefits to ESA, we are reviewing a further 250,000 cases (Phase
2), as set out in October. Activity in respect of this group is
due to start shortly, and we aim to complete Phase 2 by the end
of this year.
The cases included in this exercise were largely converted
between 2011 and 2014. Revised operational guidance was put in
place in October 2014 after individual cases that had been
incorrectly converted came to light. As part of our commitment to
correct all cases affected by this error, we decided to undertake
additional testing of cases converted in 2015. This testing has
shown that the error rate did not improve as quickly as expected
and we therefore believe that it is prudent to review around a
further 30,000 cases, that were converted from 2015 onwards. This
reflects our commitment to ensure all those who may have been
affected are identified and paid the arrears they are due.
The Department is publishing an updated ad hoc statistical
publication today setting out further detail on the progress it
has made in processing cases, including an updated estimate on
forecast expenditure and the numbers affected. This will be
published on Gov.uk.
These updated forecasts will feed into the Spring Statement 2019.
The Department now estimates that around 600,000 cases require
review and that by the end of the exercise around 210,000 arrears
payments will have been made. The increase, compared to our
previous estimate of 180,000, is based on assumptions made using
evidence we have gathered from the checking exercise to date. The
data shows an increase in the proportion of cases in error among
some groups of claimants. In addition, based on sample testing we
have also included an assumption of the proportion of errors
likely to be identified in the further 30,000 cases that have
been added to the exercise.
An updated Frequently Asked Question guide will also be deposited
in the House library for further information.
1Some of these cases which were originally completed
prior to our announcement in July 2018 that we will review and
pay cases back to the date they were converted from incapacity
benefits to ESA, will require further action.
