Mr Nicholas Brown – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mr Nicholas Brown on 2014-03-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the performance of Atos in carrying out medical assessments for personal independence payments; and if he will review this contract following the recent announcement on the Employment and Support Allowance Work Capability Assessment contract.

Mike Penning

The Department’s contracts with Atos Healthcare and Capita for the delivery of assessments for Personal Independence Payment include a full set of service level agreements setting out the Department’s expectations for service delivery, including quality of assessments and the number of days to provide advice to the Department. We are closely monitoring their progress against these and are taking action to drive up performance where this does not meet the required standards.

In particular, for both providers, the end-to-end process for many claimants is taking significantly longer than originally anticipated. We are working with the providers to ensure that they are taking all necessary steps to improve performance, speed up the process and ensure claimants receive a satisfactory experience.

The contracts include a range of remedies which allow the Department to take action on minor as well as more significant poor performance and ultimately the Department has the right to terminate the contract if there is sustained underperformance.

The contracts for Personal Independence Payment assessments are entirely separate to the contract Atos Healthcare has for the delivery of assessments for Employment and Support Allowance and other benefits.