Sheila Gilmore – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sheila Gilmore on 2014-06-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Answer to the hon. Member for Rutherglen and Hamilton West of 21 March 2012, Official Report, column 705W on Atos Healthcare, on how many occasions a Jobcentre Plus decision-maker did not follow the advice of an Atos-approved healthcare professional when making a decision on the eligibility for employment and support allowance in each month since May 2010.

Mike Penning

The information requested is shown in the table below.

The number of occasions where the JCP decision maker’s final decision was different to the advice given by the Atos healthcare professional – May 2010 to June 2013

Month JCP decision differs from Atos recommendation

May-10 900

Jun-10 900

Jul-10 1,100

Aug-10 1,200

Sep-10 1,200

Oct-10 1,900

Nov-10 2,600

Dec-10 2,300

Jan-11 2,700

Feb-11 3,100

Mar-11 3,700

Apr-11 2,800

May-11 3,100

Jun-11 2,800

Jul-11 2,100

Aug-11 1,900

Sep-11 1,600

Oct-11 1,400

Nov-11 1,500

Dec-11 1,200

Jan-12 1,800

Feb-12 2,300

Mar-12 2,700

Apr-12 2,300

May-12 2,600

Jun-12 2,700

Jul-12 3,200

Aug-12 3,200

Sep-12 3,800

Oct-12 4,600

Nov-12 4,700

Dec-12 3,700

Jan-13 4,800

Feb-13 4,400

Mar-13 4,000

Apr-13 4,100

May-13 4,900

Jun-13 5,300

Data sources:

DWP’s benefit administration datasets covering new claims (starting from 27 October 2008); Atos Healthcare’s face to face assessment, ESA85 data and limited capability for work questionnaire, ESA50 data; and HMCTS’s appeals caseload data.

Notes:

1. These figures do not include work capability assessments completed on incapacity benefit (IB) reassessment claims.

2. The table includes initial assessments only and the figures are rounded to the nearest hundred.