People who have disabilities often tell me that being assessed for a Personal Independence Payment, to help with the extra cost of living they face, is a stressful experience and sometimes they don't agree with the outcome.
I've been campaigning for these assessments to be recorded, either on tape or video, because I think this will make both claimants and assessors more accountable and the system fairer.
I wrote to the Disabilities Minister about this in October and have now received a reply, which you can read here.
She says the Government recently did trial recordings of around 400 assessments to assess the benefits. The results of the pilot were not conclusive - and many claimants did not agree to have their assessment recorded - but the Government has committed to doing further work on this. The Minister has promised to provide a further update in three months time, in a report which you can read here.
What the report says
"We have begun to explore whether audio recording may be beneficial to the assessment award process. A recent pilot of audio recording in around 400 assessments was carried out to gain an initial understanding of the possible benefits of recording assessments. The trial focused mainly on (a) whether audio recordings provided case managers with additional evidence on which to base their decisions; (b) whether audio recording could support the existing independent audit process in the future; and (c) if audio recording of the assessment was a positive experience for all involved in the process.
The results from the pilot suggest that audio recording of assessments has a limited impact. Moreover, a substantial proportion of claimants were not willing to have their assessment recorded. However, we recognise that for some, an audio recording is something they would like. We also understand the potential impact that this could have on people’s trust in our assessment. We are therefore looking at a further feasibility study, with the aim of better understanding the costs and benefits of recording assessments. This will potentially be delivered via the new PIP contract(s), subject to further feasibility assessment."