Penny Mordaunt, Minister of State for Disabled People, has admitted that a quarter of all claimants who won their personal Independence payment ((PIP) appeals in 2016 started out with zero points.
The shameful admission was made in answer to a written parliamentary question.
Mordaunt revealed that in 2016 a total of 34,110 PIP mandatory reconsiderations resulted in a higher award of PIP. Of these, 5,030 – amounting to 15% - were decisions where the claimant had originally been awarded zero points by the decision maker.
Worse still, out of a total of 32,070 PIP appeals that resulted in a higher award, 8,100 – or 25% - were originally zero points decisions.
The disclosure is a further damning indictment both of the assessments carried out by Atos and Capita and of the quality of decision making by the DWP itself.
You can read the full written answer on the parliament website.
