PIP is a new benefit and there has been considerable effort expended to make the assessments as fair and accurate as possible, this is one of the reasons that there are such long delays, but I think that there is the possibility for lower awards to be made where the claimant is not seen.
It is still too early to draw analogies with ESA and there are real efforts to distinguish between the two, but we have seen a lot of IB claimants put I the WRAG without a face to face, only to be moved to the Support Group on appeal.
Gordon
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