Figures released by the DWP show that there were 238 complaints against assessors in the period September 2024 to March 2025, but not one resulted in disciplinary action being taken.
The figures cover the period from the setting up of the Functional Assessment Service (FAS) to the end of its first reporting year.
FAS manages assessment contractors from Ingeus, Capita, Maximus, Serco and the DWP’s own clinical teams. The assessors carry out personal independence payment (PIP) assessments and work capability assessments for universal credit (UC).
The number of complaints against assessors were:
- Ingeus 110
- Capita 87
- Maximus 33
- Serco 4
- DWP 4
The report gives virtually no details of the nature of the complaints, other than one “Illustrative case example” which states:
“An example of an upheld clinician complaint closed with learning support:
“A complaint was received stating assessor was late and abrupt. The complaint was investigated and upheld. The healthcare professional undertook further training and reflection and their work was monitored. No further issues have been identified.”
However, the report does say that “100% were closed with reflective learning or policy updates, further support/ training and ongoing review.”
Effectively, this means that assessors need have no fear of complaints against them by claimants, because nobody ever gets disciplined, let alone dismissed, as a result of such a complaint.
The report also reveals that there were 301 information governance incidents in which data was mishandled by contractors. Remarkably, according to the DWP, not a single one of these was serious enough to require reporting to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).
There were also 152 safeguarding incidents, but the DWP claims that only four were serious enough to require any action, such as additional training or “healthcare professional reflection.” According to the DWP no harm occurred to anyone as a result of any of these incidents.
The Functional Assessment Service is, it seems, a place where nothing really bad ever happens.
You can read the addendum to the DWP Clinical Governance Annual Report 2024 to 2025 here.
