Politics
Timms still hasn’t got a clue what his own DWP PIP review is doing
Stephen Timms has once again demonstrated just how pointless and directionless his own review into Personal Independence Payment (PIP) for the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) actually is.
DWP PIP review still no further forward
During a debate on Work Capability Assessment (WCA) timescales, the minister for disabled people told MPs that the Timms review is still working out which outside agencies to involve. This is despite, as Benefits and Work points out, there only being 44 working days left for the steering group.
He said:
We are going to have a full day together tomorrow, considering how to secure external input to our consideration of how the system should work in the future. The review’s recommendations will be submitted to the Secretary of State in the autumn.
But with such a tight work schedule and limited involvement from the steering group, this is something that should’ve been worked out weeks ago. Especially considering many disabled people’s organisations have been pushing Timms for co-production since last autumn.
This is either complete weaponised incompetence from Timms, or evidence that the review was never genuinely going to include disabled people. I suspect it’s both. The man has a history of demanding answers of the DWP when he was chair of the Work and Pensions committee, so it’s inconceivable that he’d be so well and truly shit at this.
But then it’s becoming increasingly clear that Labour never actually cared about helping disabled benefit claimants. They just wanted to use us as a stick to beat the Tory government with.
Whilst the steering committee only has 44 working days, that will be spread out over the coming months. The Review is expected to be concluded and reported on in Autumn, expected sometime in November. In that time, the committee will have to somehow decide on what changes will be made to PIP eligibility. This is whilst the government already wants to make it harder for those with neurodivergent and mental health conditions.
What’s going on with the WCA?
Alongside this, there’s also (naturally) limited understanding of how the PIP review will handle the Universal Credit Health Element moving to PIP and what that will mean for the future of the WCA.
That’s why this debate was particularly relevant as it once again shows just how much the DWP are overestimating their abilities to carry this out.
They’ve already been hauled over the coals by both the Work and Pensions Committee and Public Accounts Committee for their incompetence. But as we well know with the DWP, there’s always more incompetence.
The debate focused on the scale of claimants waiting for a WCA reassessment and how the DWP plans to deal with the backlog. MPs spoke about the need for the backlog to be fixed but also compassion within the system that still forces people into work who are too sick to do so.
Timm talks utter bullshit, as usual
In Timms response however, he once again willingly missed the point and instead focused on how the system will force people into work even more
One of the problems with it has been that although people deemed not capable of work are still offered help to look for work, there is no requirement to take it up and, in practice, they rarely do. The system has given up on them, but we are now changing that. Work coaches with a new specific brief to support people classified as LCWRA say they are getting a positive response from the people they are contacting.
Truly an absurd response when the solution would surely be to just leave people alone.
He continued:
In future, eligibility for additional health-related financial support in universal credit will be assessed in England and Wales via the personal independence payment assessment. It will be based on the impact of disability on daily living, rather than on capacity to work.
This change again makes no sense, as the “UC health element” is for anyone who can’t work. This includes people with short term conditions such as cancer or pregnancy complications who would not qualify for PIP with the current assessment times.
He carried on bigging up the changes, which for a review that is still ongoing, definitely make it sound predetermined
Our ambition is a system that is simple to navigate, can be trusted by those who use it, provides a good experience and, generally, obtains the right decision the first time. Due to its link with the PIP assessment, the WCA abolition will not proceed until after the conclusion of the review into PIP that I am currently co-chairing.
Their plan certainly is ambitious, considering they cant handle their current system which is plagued by delays. Not that it stopped the DWP giving their civil servants horrendously steep bonuses. There’s also still a lot of confusion over whether the WCA will be abolished. DWP chief Pat McFadden has insisted it will, whereas the department’s own figures show it will still exist well into 2030.
Only clarity is how fucked the DWP is
The only thing that is clear here is that the DWP have been attempting to peddle through shit since their PIP cuts were thwarted last summer. Because of this, no matter how predetermined the DWP’s plans, they can’t do fuck all until this bullshit review concludes.
That’s why it’s in the best interests of the department that this farce of a review is as vague and disjointed as possible. Because any clarity would bring scrutiny from the disabled organisations Timms is attempting to shut out.
The DWP can’t come out and say they want as little resistance to cuts as possible, but their actions are proving it.
Featured image via the Canary