Rt Hon Frank Field MP Chair Work and Pensions Select Committee 14 Tothill Street London SW1H 9NB
15 May 2018
Dear Mr Field
Thank you for your letter dated 14 May 2018 in relation to questions posed around the number of assessments carried out by Independent Assessment Services (IAS) Health Professionals (HPs) and incentives.
You may recall during the Minister for Disabled People’s evidence session in front of your Committee on 20 December 2017, the topic of the number of assessments carried out by IAS HPs and incentives was raised by Heidi Allen MP following a constituent providing detail to her during the session. We were asked by DWP to confirm our position on these two areas back to the Committee which my colleague, David Haley did in writing via email to Mrs Allen on 22 December 2017. Mrs Allen replied saying she would share our response with your Committee Clerk. A copy of the email is attached with this letter.
In response to your questions posed I can provide the following detail:
1. Confirm whether the above letter is a) genuine and b) reflective of current policy
I can confirm this is a genuine letter. It related to a time-limited incentive plan put in place in Spring last year to handle a period of high PIP referral volumes and ensure PIP claimants were assessed within a reasonable time frame. To support this objective, the scheme was put in place to encourage the take-up of overtime – for example, asking staff to give more time so they could complete a fifth assessment. It is not something we currently offer to staff and we have no plans to put a similar scheme in place in the future.
2. Do you offer, or have you ever offered, financial incentives for assessors to complete more assessments—for example to counter peak demands in applications?
The number of PIP referrals that we receive from DWP can fluctuate. When we have more cases to assess than anticipated and to help minimise the time it takes for claimants to receive their assessment, we will ask our HPs if they are able to work additional hours to help complete more cases and in the past we have compensated them for doing so. At certain points where demand was particularly high, we have put in place schemes that remunerate over and above normal overtime rates, to facilitate take-up.
We are, however, always clear that quality cannot be compromised and that satisfying all assessment criteria fully in each and every assessment is the number one priority. For example, wider communications on the Spring 2017 initiative made clear that the quality of assessments completed had to be maintained, any HP undergoing an improvement plan for their quality would not be eligible to take part and HP quality was monitored closely to ensure the quality standards were met.
3. Outline the steps taken to ensure assessors do not feel rushed to complete assessments.
The volume of cases that HPs can complete in a day will vary based upon their longevity and level of experience. Typically, an HP will carry out around four consultations per day in an assessment centre or three when doing home consultations. However, HPs are not set targets for the numbers of assessment they carry out each day.
We have very specific policies and guidance in place to ensure that assessments meet the standards we expect including:
We are clear that assessments must take as long as is appropriate for each individual claimant and instruct staff working with us to act accordingly. Our scheduling policy is designed (and constantly monitored) to ensure that cases are sufficiently spread throughout the working day to ensure that there are no build-ups of cases within an assessment centre in a day. Our managers are instructed to not put any pressure on HPs to rush assessments but to always complete them to the highest quality. To ensure accuracy HPs should always complete their report immediately after the assessment and before seeing the next claimant, unless there are exceptional circumstances to prevent this (e.g. a power outage). We have a comprehensive system of management information and clinical audit that allows us to monitor the quality of assessments and drives improvement activity.
Although the length of individual assessments will vary considerably depending upon the circumstances of the case, the average assessment duration in an assessment centre has remained consistent at around 90 mins which includes the write up time of the assessment. Where individuals vary from the norms here, managers and clinical support leads will investigate the reasons for this and will take remedial action if necessary – for example, if a HP was taking insufficient time to probe a specific area of the assessment.
We also have a programme of ongoing improvements to enhance the PIP claimant experience and the service we provide. Working with DWP colleagues we are making progress on taking forward Paul Gray’s Independent Review recommendations alongside the regular feedback we receive from claimants and their companions. Meanwhile we are working with the Department to drive forwards the further improvements to the services we offer as recommended by the Committee in your recent report.
I hope that this response is reassuring. The quality of assessments and claimant experience are of the highest priority for IAS. Although we do naturally need to ensure that we can handle the volume of cases sent to us by DWP, to ensure that claimant waiting times are minimised, this must never be at the expense of the quality of the assessment or the experience of the claimant being assessed.
I would be very happy to meet with you to discuss any further questions you might have, should you find this useful.
Yours sincerely
Michael Hewson Client Executive Independent Assessment Services
Email Correspondence between David Haley, IAS and Heidi Allen, MP
From: "ALLEN, Heidi"
Dear David,
I appreciate you taking the time in writing to me to clarify ATOS's policy.
I've copied in Libby from our committee who will be pulling together our final report and recommendations.
Best wishes,
Heidi Allen
Member of Parliament for South Cambridgeshire Web: www.heidisouthcambs.co.uk Twitter: @heidiallen75
Constituency office: 82A High Street, Sawston, CB22 3HJ Tel: 01223 830037
Westminster office: House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA Tel: 0207 219 5091
From: Haley, David
Dear Heidi
Further to discussions in the Work and Pensions Select Committee evidence session on 20 December, I wanted to contact you directly to re-assure you that health professionals (HPs) employed by Independent Assessment Services (IAS) cannot and do not rush cases in order to complete a greater number of assessments.
Caseloads for HPs differ based on longevity and level of experience. Typically, an HP will carry out around four consultations per day in a Centre or three doing home consultations. However, HPs are not set targets for the numbers of assessment they carry out each day.
Cont./
We are clear that assessments must take as long as is appropriate for each individual claimant, and instruct HPs working with us to act accordingly. The current average assessment duration has remained consistent at around 90 mins which includes the write up time of the assessment, and we have always trained people to write up their report immediately after the consultation unless there are exceptional circumstances to prevent this (e.g. power outage).
As you will appreciate, in order for us to deliver the best possible service to claimants, we need to understand how many PIP cases HPs are likely to be able to see so that we can plan how many claimants we can invite for assessments into our centres, and can schedule for home consultations.
At times, when we have more cases to assess and to help minimise the time it takes for claimants to receive their assessment, we will ask HPs if they are able to work additional hours to help complete more cases and we compensate them for doing so. However, we are clear that quality cannot be compromised and that satisfying all assessment criteria fully in each and every assessment is the number one priority. HP quality is monitored closely to ensure this is met.
We agree all the principles of how we operate our scheduling of claimants’ appointments with DWP.
We hope the additional information above is helpful to you in providing some further context and clarification around how IAS goes about delivering PIP assessments and providing the best possible service for claimants.
Kind regards
David Haley
Chief Executive Independent Assessment Services M +44 (0)7733 314801 4 Triton Square Regent's Place London NW1 3HG [email protected]