| answer text |
<p>We are committed to assessing people with health conditions and disabilities fairly
and accurately, helping people to access the right support. We have already introduced
the Severe Conditions Criteria for Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)/Universal
Credit (UC) claimants who have the most severe and lifelong health conditions. As
well as providing ongoing awards with light touch review at ten years for Personal
Independence Payment (PIP) claimants with the highest needs, where those needs will
not improve.</p><p> </p><p>I do consider there are potential merits, and the Department
recently announced our intention to create an integrated service for PIP and Work
Capability Assessments to join up processes around the assessments. This will streamline
the customer journey, enabling more user-friendly and joined-up benefit systems. Going
further we will also test the feasibility of using a single assessment to determine
eligibility for PIP or capability for work within UC/ESA where claims are initially
made for both benefits. This should inform our approach to reassessments.</p>
|
|
