In a statement made earlier this month the government announced that it was extending the contracts for Capita and Atos to carry out PIP assessments for a further two years, in spite of widespread anger at the standard of those assessments. As a concession to the level of disquiet the government also announced a pilot project to video record PIP assessments.
In her statement, Sarah Newton, Minister of State for Disabled People, said:
“A key part of our efforts to improve the assessment process will be making video recording of the PIP assessment a standard part of the process. We will be piloting videoing the assessment with a view to then rolling this out across Great Britain.”
However, until now recording of benefits assessments has always been audio only.
Video recordings may have some advantages over audio in terms of evidence. For example, it might make it clearer whether claimants were able to carry out any movements that the assessor asked them to.
However, some people may feel considerable disquiet at being video-taped whilst taking part in what can be a very intrusive process.
They may also have concerns about how secure those videos may be and how long they will be kept by the DWP.
We would be very interested to know what Benefits and Work readers think about the idea of the DWP video recording your PIP assessment rather than audio recording it.
Please leave a comment below.
