Page 135 - Reforming Benefits Decision-Making -(updated - August 2021)

Recommendations

Health and disability assessments

Mode of assessment

1. We echo the SSAC’s recommendation that the DWP and DfC should produce
– and publish – a comparative analysis of case outcomes for telephone, paper-
based and video assessments, including consideration of the protected
characteristics of claimants. In addition, they should evaluate the impact that
the different modes of assessment have on claimants (para 2.11).

2. Where a health and disability assessment is required, wherever possible,
claimants should be offered the choice of having this conducted via telephone,
video or face-to-face. These options should be given in simple language in
any correspondence from the DWP (para 2.12).

Quality and transparency of assessments

3. Claimants with mental ill-health, neurodivergent, co-morbid, complex,
fluctuating or rare conditions should be assessed by HCPs with specialist
knowledge of their conditions (para 2.18).

4. The assessor and decision-maker guidance and training should be updated to:

a) Make clear that HCPs/decision-makers must request additional evidence
where this information is reasonably required to make an assessment.
This should explicitly recognise that evidence may not have been
provided because claimants may not have copies of it – rather than
because it is not important or does not exist; and
b) Explicitly state that HCPs and decision-makers must request further
evidence when this is required as a reasonable adjustment for claimants
with mental health conditions.

In addition, the application forms and guidance should explicitly state that if
claimants do not have copies of medical information easily available, this will
be requested directly from their healthcare professionals by the assessment
providers where this is required for the assessment (para 2.25).

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