This in from Andrew Turner’s office, in their own words. Ed
Mr Turner has also asked Minister Mike Penning MP to arrange a representative from the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) to attend.
Where and when
At 10.00am on Friday 25th April a public meeting will be held at the Riverside Centre giving Islanders the opportunity to ask questions about the PIP system. Those speaking at the meeting are experts in the PIP process but will not be able to deal in any depth with questions about Work Capability Assessments for Employment and Support Allowance (ESA).
ESA is paid whilst claimants are waiting for assessments to be undertaken so do not lose out from any delays. No payments are made under PIP until the assessment and decision making processes have been completed, which may lead to financial hardship in some cases.
Mr Turner said:
“A few people contacted me reporting very long waits for PIP assessments causing genuine hardship. I was able to help in those cases but in view of the issues reported nationally I wanted to establish if there was a wider problem. I found out that figures for the Island are not held by Government, so I pressed Atos for the information and discovered that around 120 Islanders are currently waiting for a PIP appointment. That is clearly unacceptable.
“Atos recognise that problems are escalating on the Island so I have asked officials to come along to explain the situation and hear from Islanders. This meeting is designed to be helpful to those affected by a real problem – so I very much hope it will not be hi-jacked by anybody seeking to make political points.
“I am also working to help Atos put facilities in place to address the backlog – but that may take some time. PIP is not means tested, but where waiting for an assessment is causing real financial hardship please contact my office with details in the first instance.”
An Atos spokesperson said
“We understand it is difficult for people experiencing delays in their PIP application and welcome the opportunity to help people to understand the PIP process and what it means to them.”
Atos Healthcare has been carrying out independent medical assessments for health related benefits paid by the DWP since 1998, and was awarded the contract for the new PIP benefit in 2012. They deliver the PIP contract in the South of England and also North West and North East England and Scotland. The contract runs until 2017.
Image: © IslandMP
