Costs Up, Not Down, In DWP PIP Disaster
With many thanks to Benefits And Work.
A report released today by the Office For Budget Responsibility (OBR) reveals that far from cutting the cost of disability benefits by 20 per cent as the DWP intended, personal independence payment (PIP) has resulted in an increase in costs of 15 to 20 per cent.
When PIP was introduced, the DWP openly admitted that the aim was to cut the cost of disability benefits by 20%, by supposedly targeting payments on the most severely disabled.
PIP was introduced in April 2013. The full rollout was intended to be completed by 2015-16, with the savings in place by then.
In reality, by 2017-18 the rollout was only two thirds completed and the cost had increased by 15-20 per cent compared to what disability living allowance for working age claimants was projected to have cost.
The OBR has listed some of the reasons for the unexpected cost of PIP as:
Volumes of new claims to PIP being higher than for DLA. DLA claims had been falling prior to PIP introduction, so we did not expect an increase in claims. But they have continued to increase over the past five years.
Success rates for new claims being higher than expected. Success rates for ‘normal rules’ claims were initially between 50 and 60 per cent, but as administrative processes stabilised they fell less than expected, to around 45 per cent. That was substantially higher than the 35 per cent assumed in the December 2012 forecast on the basis of the results from the 900-person sample of DLA claimants.
Reassessment volumes being lower than expected, initially from fewer natural migrations, but later from the successive delays to managed migration. Since PIP was originally expected to cost less than DLA, this increased forecast spending.
Success rates at reassessments being higher than expected. Natural migration success rates averaged 78 per cent in 2015-16, after reconsiderations and appeals. They have since fallen to just below the 74 per cent assumed in December 2012 for all reassessments. For managed reassessments, they have settled at around 82 per cent.
Outflows initially being lower than expected, despite PIP having a higher proportion of short-term awards than DLA. Greater use of fixed-term awards may have discouraged claimants from reporting changes of condition, instead awaiting their next renewal date. Outflows caught up once award review outcomes started to come through.
Average awards being significantly higher than expected, for both new claims (by
around £10 a week) and reassessments (by around £14 a week).
The OBR also notes that legal challenges have led to an increase in the cost of PIP, with just one case leading to an increase in awards of around £400 million a year, in addition to backdating.
This was a reference to the attempts by the DWP to make it much harder for claimants who have difficulty going out because of overwhelming psychological distress to successfully claim the PIP mobility component.
Those attempts were defeated by one brave claimant, supported by funds raised largely by Benefits and Work readers.
Once again a cost cutting reform has proved to simply be an expensive exercise in creating avoidable misery.
It happened with employment and support allowance, it has now happened with personal independence payment and it will happen with universal credit too.
Same Difference 
Reblogged this on sdbast.
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“Once again a cost cutting reform has proved to simply be an expensive exercise in creating avoidable misery.”
Duh.
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HaHaHahahahah
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Let’s just summarise these (s)tory party achievements for clarity:
1) Number of claims – higher
2) Success rates for new claims – higher
3) Forecast spending on PIP and ESA despite lower predictions – higher
4) Reassessment claims awards – higher
5) Initial claim award values – higher
6) And the one thing that’s lower: ‘Out flows’ – people kicked off benefits, Hurrah!
‘Brilliant job cutting benefit costs, (s)tory party, eh? You reap what you sow!
Stupid! They forgot to factor in the massive torrent of coordinated premeditated abuse they unremittingly doled out to all claimants via the lame-stream media, government job centre staff, and subsequently assessment denial abuse.
So guess what? Surprise, surprise – the sick people got even sicker – and many have died from the torture – yet still the sickness claims bill relentlessly expamds!
The DWP couldn’t keep up. Too many of their own workers are falling ill through (among other reasons) demanding their officers ‘agitate clients at every opportunity in order to provoke action required to sanction them’ on pain of negative job performance reviews – helpfully suggesting disgusting hints and tips to make the task easier – such as cherry-picking the low hanging fruit – all those precariously vulnerable clients with mental health issues!
So, because of the guilt of imposing all those targeted numbers of sanctions on desperate people, in short order, the DWP gained the dubious distinction as the government department with the highest sickness absences!
Maybe some of them are human but obviously spineless, compassion-less, sheeple, complicit in the crime – but they need reminding that tears alone don’t count whilst the premeditated murders continue! We know the scale of the crime from our own personal experiences, the leaked newspaper scandals, undercover revelations of abuse from brave exposers – so where are all the rest of the whistle-blowers?
Such tough hard men, those brave (s)torys, don’t ya know?
God forgive you all for consciously and premeditatedly abusing and murdering vulnerable people – those with no power and no money, unable to defend themselves!
Now talk your way out of that damning indictment, you cowardly bunch of cold-blooded murderers!
‘Better start rehearsing those apologies now. Franz Saukel couldn’t convince the jury he was only ‘doing his job’ and paid with his life, hanged by the neck at Nuremberg – ironically, in part for also press-ganging the disabled, foreigners, gypsies, Jews, and other dispossessed minorities into slave labour camps to work for the Nazi war effort. Check out the slimeball’s crimes on this criminal mass-murder’s Wikipedia entry.
First up, has to be IDS – ‘never was very convincing at anything – and even got caught lying on his CV – what a twat – further evidence that he’s so arrogant and talentless that he imagines he can fool everyone with such transparent lies about his academic achievements.
Judges take note: Drunken’s not the shiniest turd on the benches, easy to trip up – even for simple questions he has two left feet – not that there’s a dearth of other evidence of his premeditated murderous inhumanity! Perhaps we could get treated to a double whammy with side-slick Pretti ‘Stupid’ Patel in the dock – she’s also another proven (s)tory liar and disability abuser.
I claim first dibs in the public gallery!
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BTW – Correct me if I’m wrong but there’s yet another huge bill liable to the tax-payer approaching, that seems to have been ignored.
Under Universal Credit, we’ve been told, claimants will be made awards for all entitlements – whether individuals claim them or not!
With current estimates of sixteen billion pounds in welfare benefit left unclaimed in 2016, will someone please explain to me how we are expected to meet the expense of paying that to people who apparently don’t seem to need it in the first place?
Not that I advocate not paying benefit that’s rightfully due – ‘just asking if anyone’s really thought his through?
https://www.independent.co.uk/money/spend-save/10bn-worth-of-benefits-go-unclaimed-each-year-in-the-uk-a7085166.html
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