The DWP has responded after a question from Neil O’Brien, a Conservative Party MP, for Harborough, Oadby and Wigston.
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has issued an update over “in-person” and “remote” assessments for Personal Independence Payment. The DWP has responded after a question from Neil O’Brien, a Conservative Party MP, for Harborough, Oadby and Wigston.
He reached out in the Commons “to ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the (a) successful claim rate and (b) average number of points scored for PIP Assessments were for assessments undertaken (i) in-person, (ii) not in-person and (iii) across all modes in each of the last ten years.”
Sir Stephen Timms, for the Labour Party for East Ham, replied: “The successful claim rate following assessments undertaken (i) in-person, (ii) not in-person and (iii) across all modes is shown below for each of the last ten years.”
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He explained the success for remote assessments was 55 per cent overall, with 57 per cent not in-person and 44 per cent in-person. The successful claim rates are based on claim outcomes at initial decision and do not account for revised decisions following disputes. Claimants may proceed to register a Mandatory Reconsideration if unsuccessful, or lodge an appeal if unsuccessful following Mandatory Reconsideration.
The successful claim rate is calculated as the number of claims awarded divided by the total number of claims awarded or disallowed due to failed assessment. This excludes claims disallowed prior to assessment or following failure to attend the assessment.
These figures include claims made under normal rules and special rules for terminal illness and include new claims and Disability Living Allowance (DLA) to PIP reassessment claims.
All modes of assessment include consultations, paper-based reviews and cases without a recorded mode of assessment. Consultations may be in-person, not in-person (telephone, video) or unspecified.
After 2021, a negligible number of claims had a consultation that was unspecified with regards to the mode of assessment. DLA to PIP reassessments typically had higher success rates than new claims, but very few of these reassessments have occurred since mid-2020.