General Chat

Interesting that the responce to Margaret Hodge's comment was

Personal Independence Payments (PIP) is a completely new benefit with a face-to-face assessment, something missing under DLA, and there will always be initial costs so this is not comparing like with like.

So who is this face-to-face assessment with? Are they medical profesionals?

People complain about ATOS who do these assessment, My experiance with ATOS was a good one but their assessment bears no resemblance to what the DWP/Job centre have told me,

In fact my last interview with the DWP/job centre Quote, "we never recieve the results of medical assessments" ref ( My medical history or assessment) all we get told is that you have been put on ESA,

Still not recieved a single penny from them despite having to attend appointments at their so called Work-focus interviews with one of their advisors, To be fair to the advisor She is also at a loss as to why i am in that group

(I have never needed help in getting a job in my life and i still don't need help with a job)

The bottom line as far as im concerned is (IF) people are claiming these benifits that they are not entitled to then GP's and hospital consultants are the professionals who support these claims, In which case the DWP should challenge them over their professional opinions and hold them to account rather than hounding the people who are disabled in some way



Roy

Whats the Betting that an Announcement will be made that" Lessons Have been Learnt" and it won,t happen again. (Untill The Next Time )

They'll probably say that it seemed a good idea at the time. What's the betting that they are using an IT system 'not fit for purpose' ?

Hopefully somebody will get on their backs to sort out why this is happening. Then no doubt we will hear that the cause is someone way down the line who will be made a scapegoat, and nobody at the top will accept responsibility.

If you or someone you know receives the Personal Independence Payment that replaced the Disability Living Allowance - I wonder if you agree with this statement from Rt Hon Margaret Hodge, Chair of the Public Accounts Committee.

Statement from Rt Hon Margaret Hodge, Chair of the Public Accounts Committee:-

"I was shocked to learn that, not only will Personal Independence Payment claims cost almost three and half times more to administer than Disability Living Allowance, they also take double the amount of time to process. The current backlog and delays in processing claims are simply unacceptable and will no doubt cause real distress for vulnerable claimants. Without the Department for Work and Pensions sharing details of how long claims should and do take, claimants are left facing uncertainty and potential financial difficulties whilst waiting for a decision. Once again we see the Department under-performing - and we have little faith that costs will not increase down the line as it tries to get things under control.

The Department need to understand the causes of this backlog to develop a clear plan on how they are going to work with contractors to clear it, and ensure there are suitable processes in place to make sure this does not happen again. I look forward to discussing their progress on dealing with this backlog when they come before us on the 20 March."