In response to pressure from the Work and Pensions Select
Committee the Department for Work and Pensions has announced that
its target for upholding original PIP and ESA decisions at the
first stage of appeal, Mandatory Reconsideration (MR), will be
dropped.
On 28 November the Committee wrote to DWP with concerns about
the MR process, which had come up in the Committee’s
current inquiry into the medical assessments carried out by ATOS,
Maximus and Capita to inform DWP’s decisions on awards of
disability benefits PIP and ESA.
The Committee had heard of “pressure to turn out numbers” in
relation to both the original decision and at MR stage, and that
MRs simply “rubber stamp” the original decision. The DWP revealed
in an FOI request in May 2017 that one of the performance
indicators for MRCs was that 80% of the original decisions are to
be upheld. The Committee queried how a target for upholding
original decisions could be compatible with ensuring that
questionable reports are thoroughly investigated, and erroneous
decisions identified and corrected. MR should be an important
extra safeguard, but instead appears to be creating another
“hurdle” in a process that is already arduous and stressful for
many claimants, as the Committee has heard directly in nearly
4,000 individual accounts submitted to it.
The Department’s response “categorically state(s) that
there has never been a Mandatory Reconsideration target for
upholding original decisions”, and that the 80% target, “an
internal measurement only used to indicate areas” where there
were problems with the original decisions being made, will be
dropped.
Commenting on the response, Rt Hon MP Chair of the Committee, said
“It is great news that the target has been dropped and we
congratulate the Department on this response. This is a great
victory for the thousands of PIP and ESA claimants who have
responded to our inquiry, and for anyone going through this
process, who can now go to the first stage of appealing a
benefits decision with more confidence that the reconsideration
will be fair and impartial.”
Original letter: http://www.parliament.uk/documents/commons-committees/work-and-pensions/Correspondence/Letter-from-the-Chair-to-Minister-of-State-for-Disabled-People-Health-and-Work-relating-to-PIP-and-ESA-assessments-28-November-2017.pdf
