BBC News last night reported that “failings in disability benefits assessments – including claimants being asked when they had “caught” Down’s syndrome – have led, MPs say,to a “pervasive lack of trust” in the system”.
The findings of an inquiry by the House of Commons Work and Pensions Committee said contractors “universally missed” their set performance targets and that their reports for both Personal Independence Payments and Employment and Support Allowance claims were “riddled with errors.”
Reports submitted to the committee by members of the public detailing their problems with their assessments were described by the committee as “shocking and moving, credible and consistent.”
The BBC explained that “a recurrent complaint was that claimants did not believe the companies’ assessors could be trusted to record evidence of their conditions accurately.
Examples given by the committee included:
- One claimant was said in her assessment report to walk her dog, despite not owning one and being barely able to walk at all
- Attempts to self harm being left out of assessment reports
- Another claimant, who remained in bed throughout her interview at home, was reported to have risen from a chair “without any difficulty” even though the only chair in the room was the one the assessor was sitting on.
In a shocking admission, “A former benefits assessor told the BBC some of her ex-colleagues “copied and pasted” their assessments.”
Do you have faith that the private companies carrying out benefit assessments will accurately record how your disability affects your life? Let us know in the comments below, or over on our Twitter or on our Facebook page.
16 Feb 2018 08:45:57
I have ME and can only get around out of the house with a mobility scooter. I can walk but will be left suffering in bed for days after. I attended a PIP assessment on my mobility scooter in Sheffield as it was a day I could barely sit up and was in agony. The nurse did not know anything about my condition. I’ve finally seen my report after having my appaeal rejected and she had written that I was seen to walk to the room at a normal gait without getting breathless. I was in my mobility scooter and so this was a complete lie- which would be on CCTV. Yet my appeal was still rejected. I have contacted complaints at PIP and someone rung me. I rang them back and left a message but they have ignored it. What can I do?