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You are here: Home / Archives for benefit assessments

benefit assessments

PIP backlog has more than trebled in five years

By John Pring on 10th March 2022 Category: Benefits and Poverty

PIP backlog has more than trebled in five years
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New figures have shown how the backlog of disabled people waiting for a personal independence payment (PIP) assessment has more than trebled in the last five years. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) figures, secured by Disability News Service (DNS) […]

Minister for disabled people ignores calls for inquiry into DWP deaths

By John Pring on 3rd February 2022 Category: Benefits and Poverty

Minister for disabled people ignores calls for inquiry into DWP deaths
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The minister for disabled people has ignored calls for an inquiry into deaths linked to the failings of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). The disabled Labour MP Marsha de Cordova had called for an inquiry this week after telling […]

New figures show few WCAs being carried out face-to-face

By John Pring on 13th January 2022 Category: Benefits and Poverty

New figures show few WCAs being carried out face-to-face
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New figures released by the government show how nearly all “fitness for work” assessments are now being carried out on the telephone, or simply by examining paperwork. The figures show that three-quarters (73 per cent) of completed work capability assessments (WCAs) […]

DWP admits assessment system is ‘fragmented’ and ‘inefficient’

By John Pring on 22nd December 2021 Category: Benefits and Poverty

DWP admits assessment system is ‘fragmented’ and ‘inefficient’
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The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has admitted that its system for assessing disabled people for their eligibility for benefits is “fragmented” and “inefficient”. The comments about the system were contained in documents shared earlier this year with companies seeking […]

Government’s PIP reviewer disagrees with Coffey’s ‘no duty of care’ claim

By John Pring on 2nd December 2021 Category: Benefits and Poverty

Government’s PIP reviewer disagrees with Coffey’s ‘no duty of care’ claim
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A former DWP civil servant commissioned by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to review disability benefit assessments has publicly disagreed with government claims that the department does not have a duty of care to benefit claimants. Paul Gray, who […]

Judge highly critical of DWP’s flawed IT systems that helped cause claimant’s distress

By John Pring on 4th November 2021 Category: Benefits and Poverty

Judge highly critical of DWP’s flawed IT systems that helped cause claimant’s distress
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A judge has been highly critical of flawed IT systems that prevent the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and one of its contractors from sharing vital information about disabled benefit claimants. District Judge Lacey told Bournemouth County Court on Friday […]

Prospect of Atos ‘fitness for work’ contract return horrifies activists

By John Pring on 16th September 2021 Category: Benefits and Poverty

Prospect of Atos ‘fitness for work’ contract return horrifies activists
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Disabled activists reacted with horror this week after learning that the discredited government contractor Atos could soon be carrying out “fitness for work” tests again, six years after withdrawing from its assessment contract. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is […]

Atos, Capita and Maximus ‘send almost no safeguarding referrals to councils’

By John Pring on 15th April 2021 Category: Benefits and Poverty

Atos, Capita and Maximus ‘send almost no safeguarding referrals to councils’
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A trio of outsourcing companies that have faced repeated criticism over their links to deaths and serious harm caused to disabled benefit claimants have made almost no attempts in the last year to alert local authorities to serious safeguarding concerns. Responses […]

DWP decision to resume face-to-face assessments ‘is too soon and too dangerous’

By John Pring on 1st April 2021 Category: Benefits and Poverty

DWP decision to resume face-to-face assessments ‘is too soon and too dangerous’
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Disabled campaigners have warned the government that it is too soon, and too dangerous, to resume face-to-face assessments for disability benefit claimants. They spoke out after the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) announced this week that face-to-face work capability assessments […]

DWP faces another call to act over pandemic assessment unfairness

By John Pring on 25th March 2021 Category: Benefits and Poverty

DWP faces another call to act over pandemic assessment unfairness
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The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is facing its second call to act in consecutive weeks over the impact of the pandemic on disabled people waiting for their benefit claims to be assessed. Last week, Disability News Service (DNS) reported […]

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