The DWP’s plan for a major change to the assessment system for PIP and the work capability assessment (WCA) will not now go ahead this summer and may never happen at all.
Last September we reported that in any given area, just one company would carry out both PIP and WCA assessments and that much of the information gathered at one assessment would be used for the other, though the actual assessments would still be separate.
The new system was supposed to be introduced this August.
But, in evidence given to the commons work and pensions committee earlier this month, the DWP admitted that contracts for the new system have not even been awarded yet.
Instead, the DWP say that they now plan to choose the new providers in each area by March this year, but the new assessments will not begin until March 2024. Current providers assessment contracts have now been extended to that date.
One of the reasons for the delay, the DWP claim, is that they have belatedly decided that they want to use their own software to carry out the assessments rather than letting different providers develop their own.
However, since the committee meeting on 11 January, we have now had the news that the government is considering major reforms to the WCA or possibly scrapping it altogether.
If that is what happens, then the business case for spending millions on new software that will become obsolete soon after its introduction becomes very hard to make.
A white paper on benefits is due out in early March. It’s contents may spell the end of the DWP’s current plan to shake-up the assessment system. Meanwhile, the delays and confusion will continue.
You can read the minutes of the work and pensions committee here.
