The following details have been supplied by PCS DWP Group:
This article provides an update on PIP delivery following the recent announcements regarding transfer of staff to PIP and the publication of PIP statistics
Pip Statistics show large backlogs
DWP have recently published statistics for the first year of PIP live running. These show that 349,000 new PIP claims have been received but only 83,900 claims have had a decision made. This backlog of claims has understandably received much public criticism, with stories of many claimants having to wait months for a decision to be made on their PIP claim and then wait even longer if they seek a reconsideration or appeal. These delays are unacceptable and are causing real suffering for claimants.
Regrettably there was no prior consultation with DTUS about this latest transfer of staff. Management have conceded that this was an oversight on their part. Management have now informed PCS that the transfer of Leeds BC to PIP work will mean that:
PCS welcomes this additional staffing for PIP but believes these measures are too little too late. It is becoming ever more essential that Ministers end the ban on permanent recruitment of new staff in DWP. They must urgently embark on a large scale recruitment exercise to ensure that the PIP backlog can be brought under control. The decision to allow so many experienced EO decision makers and AA admin staff to leave this year on VES schemes now appears extremely short sighted when PIP is crying out for both EO decision-makers and AA admin staff.
Transfer of Leeds BC
PCS has been pressing management for additional staff to deal with these large backlogs of PIP cases. Management have now announced that all the staff in Leeds Benefit Centre (Hume House) will be transferring to PIP to handle new claims work. This is addition to the 70 Decision Makers transferring to PIP work in Newport. In total 232.99 Full Time Equivalent (FTE) are moving to PIP.
Regrettably there was no prior consultation with DTUS about this latest transfer of staff. Management have conceded that this was an oversight on their part. Management have now informed PCS that the transfer of Leeds BC to PIP work will mean that:
- All Benefits Directorate staff in Leeds BC will be reallocated to PIP along with 70 Decision Makers at Newport Contact Centre.
- All the BC staff in Hume House will continue to work from that site
- That these staff will be rebadged to PIP from the date they start PIP training. The full details of training content are still being worked through, but the broad outline of current training is 5 weeks for EO Case Managers, 2 weeks for AO Case Workers, and 1 week for AAs.
- There are very clear EO, AO and AA job roles in PIP, and plenty of work in all grades at the current time. Where skills match, there may be some opportunity to TDA into the higher grade.
- Pre authorised leave will be honoured and the normal DWP approach to additional leave requests will be followed. Staff may be asked if they can change leave to complete training activities but that will be on a voluntary basis. All current Part Time working patterns will be honoured and reviewed in the normal cycle.
PCS welcomes this additional staffing for PIP but believes these measures are too little too late. It is becoming ever more essential that Ministers end the ban on permanent recruitment of new staff in DWP. They must urgently embark on a large scale recruitment exercise to ensure that the PIP backlog can be brought under control. The decision to allow so many experienced EO decision makers and AA admin staff to leave this year on VES schemes now appears extremely short sighted when PIP is crying out for both EO decision-makers and AA admin staff.
Public Scrutiny
PIP is coming under intense public scrutiny as a result of these problems. Recent parliamentary reports identified:
DWP is receiving a lot of criticism for these problems with PIP. However most of the blame lies with the failure of the private sector companies (Atos and Capita) to perform the PIP medical assessments. While DWP staff can clear the front end and the back end of the PIP new claim process in reasonable timescales, it is taking the private sector contractors months, in the middle of the process, to do the medical assessments. It is this private sector failure that is the primary cause of the huge backlogs and delays in PIP claims that have arisen.
PCS believes that the experiment of using private companies to conduct the PIP medical assessment has been a massive failure. Rather than let the situation get worse, PCS believes that these contracts should be terminated as soon as possible and the assessment work should be brought back in-house. It is a scandalous waste of taxpayers’ money for these failing contractors to continue to get paid for their shockingly poor performance while PIP customers have to wait months for their claim to be dealt with as a result.
Raising Members’ Concerns
There was a meeting of PCS reps working on PIP and Disability Living Allowance (DLA) earlier this year. This was a productive meeting and a number of members’ concerns were identified. These included problems with the IT and inadequate training. Management have acknowledged that there have been problems with the IT and are looking to resolve them.
PCS has also been raising our concerns over PIP with MP’s through the PCS parliamentary group. PIP was the subject of a question to the Prime Minister at a recent Prime Minister’s Question Time. PCS will continue to meet with PIP management and to continue to press for the additional staff we need.
- that claimants were suffering long delays in receiving their awards, mainly as a result of the failure of the private contractors, Atos and Capita, to perform the medical assessments within reasonable timescales.
- As a result DWP was unable to tell claimants how long they would wait for their award to be made.
- That DWP had been forced to delay the reassessment of Disability Living Allowance (DLA) cases onto PIP
- That DWP had failed to meet the expected savings from the switch from DLA to PIP in the current spending round
- There were even delays in the most urgent cases when claimants were terminally ill.
DWP is receiving a lot of criticism for these problems with PIP. However most of the blame lies with the failure of the private sector companies (Atos and Capita) to perform the PIP medical assessments. While DWP staff can clear the front end and the back end of the PIP new claim process in reasonable timescales, it is taking the private sector contractors months, in the middle of the process, to do the medical assessments. It is this private sector failure that is the primary cause of the huge backlogs and delays in PIP claims that have arisen.
PCS believes that the experiment of using private companies to conduct the PIP medical assessment has been a massive failure. Rather than let the situation get worse, PCS believes that these contracts should be terminated as soon as possible and the assessment work should be brought back in-house. It is a scandalous waste of taxpayers’ money for these failing contractors to continue to get paid for their shockingly poor performance while PIP customers have to wait months for their claim to be dealt with as a result.
Raising Members’ Concerns
There was a meeting of PCS reps working on PIP and Disability Living Allowance (DLA) earlier this year. This was a productive meeting and a number of members’ concerns were identified. These included problems with the IT and inadequate training. Management have acknowledged that there have been problems with the IT and are looking to resolve them.
PCS has also been raising our concerns over PIP with MP’s through the PCS parliamentary group. PIP was the subject of a question to the Prime Minister at a recent Prime Minister’s Question Time. PCS will continue to meet with PIP management and to continue to press for the additional staff we need.
