Those figures are as unacceptable as they are unsurprising given the chaos in the system. They are even worse if you bear in mind that Atos are now only receiving new claims and a few ESA renewals where there has been a change of circumstances (as per Lisa Coleman, Senior Vice President, Atos Healthcare at the Work & Pensions Committee session on Monday). The DWP's figures for ESA WCA outcomes show a very sharp decline in the caseload so that makes the 700,000 figure even more shameful.
It would be interesting to know what the average time for each assessment to be completed has now reached (the DWP produced some figures a couple of years ago where the average was 19/20 weeks and Mark Hoban gave some figures last year where he confirmed that only 18% of cases were dealt with within the supposed 13 week assessment period).
Looking at the DWP tabulation tool it shows that there were 320,000 in the ESA assessment phase when the coalition took over. That had risen to 508,000 by Nov 2013 (the latest available figures on the tab tool) so they have seemingly added another couple of hundred thousand in just a few months.
Of course one of the "benefits" for the coalition of the assessment phase taking longer and longer is that more people will recover and close their claim, leading to the sort of disgraceful rubbish spouted by the likes of Grant Shapps and the Telegraph last year.
Whilst I would not go quite as far as Judge Martin when he said that the WCA process is in a state of "virtual collapse" it is clearly in one almighty mess and as usual it is the claimants that are the ones that are getting a raw deal.
As for Cameron's dismissive reply to Katy Clark re the huge PIP delays that sums up his callous indifference towards ill and disabled people.
You have to smile, the government blame ATOS for the mess, and say{ An official from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) told MPs that Atos, which has agreed to end its contract early, "couldn't deliver the quality at the capacity we want".} But the same government gave ATOS the new contract along with CAPITA to do the assessments od the new disability benefit P.I.P. which both ATOS and CAPITA have got thousands stuck in back logs waiting for assessments and one famous case at the last count had been waiting over a year for a assessment, why would you give a company who has just failed 1 contract doing medical assessments, another contract doing the same, its a bloody joke. PIP has already been criticised by the National Audit Office, which said in February that a backlog of 92,000 claims had built up and that people were facing "distress and financial difficulties" because of mismanagement by civil servants as well as Atos and Capita.
ESA has a 13 week assessment period?
My sibling sent back an ESA form at the begining of December and is just now the end of this week being transfered from Severe Disablement Allowance and Income Support with disability premiums to ESA support group. That is what about 28 weeks, from sending back the form to being transfered to ESA, and that is without having to go to a face-to-face assessment.
ESA has a 13 week assessment period?
My sibling sent back an ESA form at the begining of December and is just now the end of this week being transfered from Severe Disablement Allowance and Income Support with disability premiums to ESA support group. That is what about 28 weeks, from sending back the form to being paid ESA, and that is without having to go to a face-to-face assessment.
That is crazy 28 weeks just to have a paper based asessment sorted, hate to think how long it would have took if a face to face assessment would have been needed
That is crazy 28 weeks just to have a paper based asessment sorted, hate to think how long it would have took if a face to face assessment would have been needed
There are many people still waiting longer than 28 weeks.
Those figures are as unacceptable as they are unsurprising given the chaos in the system. They are even worse if you bear in mind that Atos are now only receiving new claims and a few ESA renewals where there has been a change of circumstances (as per Lisa Coleman, Senior Vice President, Atos Healthcare at the Work & Pensions Committee session on Monday). The DWP's figures for ESA WCA outcomes show a very sharp decline in the caseload so that makes the 700,000 figure even more shameful.
It would be interesting to know what the average time for each assessment to be completed has now reached (the DWP produced some figures a couple of years ago where the average was 19/20 weeks and Mark Hoban gave some figures last year where he confirmed that only 18% of cases were dealt with within the supposed 13 week assessment period).
Looking at the DWP tabulation tool it shows that there were 320,000 in the ESA assessment phase when the coalition took over. That had risen to 508,000 by Nov 2013 (the latest available figures on the tab tool) so they have seemingly added another couple of hundred thousand in just a few months.
Of course one of the "benefits" for the coalition of the assessment phase taking longer and longer is that more people will recover and close their claim, leading to the sort of disgraceful rubbish spouted by the likes of Grant Shapps and the Telegraph last year.
Whilst I would not go quite as far as Judge Martin when he said that the WCA process is in a state of "virtual collapse" it is clearly in one almighty mess and as usual it is the claimants that are the ones that are getting a raw deal.
As for Cameron's dismissive reply to Katy Clark re the huge PIP delays that sums up his callous indifference towards ill and disabled people.
It's always seemed strange to me that your local GP can't decide if you are fit to work or not ?, they would have your best insight into your ability
Doctor's aren't trustworthy and shouldn't be responsible for spending taxpayers money - oh hang on, weren't they given control of £70bn of taxpayer money due to NHS reforms.
There are many people still waiting longer than 28 weeks.
I am still on IB, and am waiting to hear about ESA after nearly 18 months. I filled out the form in January 2013 and expected to hear back in a month or two.
Katy Clark:
I wish good luck to every football team in the World cup.
Less than a quarter of people who have applied for the new personal independence payment have received a decision. If we continue at this rate, it will take more than 40 years to get to the point where everyone has been assessed. Does the Prime Minister think that that is acceptable, and what is he going to do about it?
The Prime Minister:
It is extremely important when we introduce these new benefits that we make sure it is
done in a way that works well. I would say it is very important not to have an artificial headline of replacing one benefit with another. The whole point about the personal independence payment is that it is more accurate and more targeted than disability living allowance. It will mean more help for those with the greatest disabilities, and I am determined we get it right
Dave ignored the 40 years totally offering no solution.
I started my sons claim for ESA in March, for it to be sorted by the 1st June when he turned 20, so such luck,so far thy have paid him £20 for 2 weeks, it is crippling us financially, I have power of attourney for him, I wonder how long it will be before he gets his ATOS appointment if there is such a big backlog? Since the CTC for him stopped, that means that we are £100 down a week, how are we supposed to survive while we wait?
Maybe my siblings 6 months, is due to living in South Oxfordshire, a Conservative heart land, with a very low claimant count 2.7% of working age population on ESA/IB vs national average of 7.2%.
What I find odd is why phone and send out the letter and form to existing legacy benefit claimants, and for matter refuse to give them an extension on how long they get to fill in the form, if it is going to take six months or longer to process their transfer to ESA. Why not send the letter nearer the time they are actually going to be able to get round to looking at the reply and processing the transfer.
Also why does the award letter not state how the decision was reached, on which support group descriptor or discriptors. It would not make much odds to my sibling, but claimants are suppose to notify DWP if their condition changes, so knowing on what descriptors they have had the benefit awarded might be helfpful to some.
Also why does the award letter not state how the decision was reached, on which support group descriptor or discriptors. It would not make much odds to my sibling, but claimants are suppose to notify DWP if their condition changes, so knowing on what descriptors they have had the benefit awarded might be helfpful to some.
That is a very good point and to be fair that is one of the few things that they have got right re PIP. As part of my PIP award letter they detail the main pieces of evidence that they have used to reach their decision, about 2/3 of a page giving their reasoning for the decision and then detailing how many points that you have scored for each descriptor. They also put how many points you score for each descriptor on the accompanying statement of entitlement. It would be much better if this were also done for ESA claimants.
Comments
well im sure that is very reassuring
It's all just an exercise to appease the Tory voters.
As long as they feel they are getting their pound of flesh they won't mind how long people have to wait for their claims to be fulfilled.
It would be interesting to know what the average time for each assessment to be completed has now reached (the DWP produced some figures a couple of years ago where the average was 19/20 weeks and Mark Hoban gave some figures last year where he confirmed that only 18% of cases were dealt with within the supposed 13 week assessment period).
Looking at the DWP tabulation tool it shows that there were 320,000 in the ESA assessment phase when the coalition took over. That had risen to 508,000 by Nov 2013 (the latest available figures on the tab tool) so they have seemingly added another couple of hundred thousand in just a few months.
Of course one of the "benefits" for the coalition of the assessment phase taking longer and longer is that more people will recover and close their claim, leading to the sort of disgraceful rubbish spouted by the likes of Grant Shapps and the Telegraph last year.
Whilst I would not go quite as far as Judge Martin when he said that the WCA process is in a state of "virtual collapse" it is clearly in one almighty mess and as usual it is the claimants that are the ones that are getting a raw deal.
As for Cameron's dismissive reply to Katy Clark re the huge PIP delays that sums up his callous indifference towards ill and disabled people.
My sibling sent back an ESA form at the begining of December and is just now the end of this week being transfered from Severe Disablement Allowance and Income Support with disability premiums to ESA support group. That is what about 28 weeks, from sending back the form to being transfered to ESA, and that is without having to go to a face-to-face assessment.
There are many people still waiting longer than 28 weeks.
I am still on IB, and am waiting to hear about ESA after nearly 18 months. I filled out the form in January 2013 and expected to hear back in a month or two.
From Hansard
Dave ignored the 40 years totally offering no solution.
This Government gets worse.
What I find odd is why phone and send out the letter and form to existing legacy benefit claimants, and for matter refuse to give them an extension on how long they get to fill in the form, if it is going to take six months or longer to process their transfer to ESA. Why not send the letter nearer the time they are actually going to be able to get round to looking at the reply and processing the transfer.
Also why does the award letter not state how the decision was reached, on which support group descriptor or discriptors. It would not make much odds to my sibling, but claimants are suppose to notify DWP if their condition changes, so knowing on what descriptors they have had the benefit awarded might be helfpful to some.
That is a very good point and to be fair that is one of the few things that they have got right re PIP. As part of my PIP award letter they detail the main pieces of evidence that they have used to reach their decision, about 2/3 of a page giving their reasoning for the decision and then detailing how many points that you have scored for each descriptor. They also put how many points you score for each descriptor on the accompanying statement of entitlement. It would be much better if this were also done for ESA claimants.