Ian Murray – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Murray on 2016-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the (a) longest and (b) average journey time to attend a medical assessment was for Scottish claimants of (i) employment and support allowance and (ii) personal independence payments in each of the last four quarters for which information is available.

Justin Tomlinson

Centre for Health Disability Assessments (for ESA assessments) and Atos Healthcare (for PIP assessments in Scotland) do not hold or retain information about customer journey times to attend assessments. Should a customer foresee a problem with travelling to their assessment they are asked to contact the appropriate provider to discuss their circumstances.

DWP’s requirement is that claimants do not have to travel for more than 90 minutes by public transport (single journey) for a consultation. However, this limit is an absolute maximum and for the majority of claimants their journey will be less than this. A home consultation can be offered, in particular where a claimant is unable to travel to a consultation as a result of their health condition or impairment. More specifically home visits are generally offered when the claimant provides confirmation via their own health professional that indicates that they are unable to travel on health grounds or at a claimant’s request where the assessment provider’s health professional determines this is appropriate for their health condition or disability.