The DWP has provided Benefits and Work with a copy of their latest PIP assessors training guide covering autism and ADHD. However, they have redacted almost every page as the drive for maximum secrecy and minimum accountability under McFadden and Timms gathers pace.
The 38 page document, “Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Neurodiversity/ASD”, which we obtained using the Freedom of Information (FoI) Act, covers:
- Autistic spectrum disorder (ASD)
- ADHD
- Dyspraxia
- Dyscalculia
- Tourette’s Syndrome
The first section of the document, up to page 22, describes the different conditions and explains the likely functional effects of each of them. This section has been redacted on the grounds that it is intended for future publication and so is exempt from FoI laws.
In their covering letter, the DWP say that they have now taken over producing training and guidance materials for health assessors and that “all training and guidance materials are currently undergoing a comprehensive review and update” using independent clinical experts to ensure they are accurate.
The department says it will publish the materials in the public domain once they have all been reviewed. They claim that “Releasing the current versions now would risk confusion and undermine the department’s efforts to provide clear, accurate and authoritative guidance.”
Unsurprisingly, the DWP give no indication of when the information will actually be published.
Nor do they explain how publishing the guidance health professionals are currently relying on would cause any confusion whatsoever.
The publication date of the redacted guidance is November 2025, so it is in current use.
The second section of the document, which contains case studies and “Activity specific considerations” for ASD and for ADHD has been redacted under the law enforcement exemption, which applies where publication is likely to prejudice the prevention or detection of crime. Using this exemption means that they have no intention of ever publishing this information.
The DWP say that “providing detailed information for certain health conditions would allow a member of the public to use this information to make a claim to benefit to which they would not otherwise be entitled to.”
We know that according to the DWP’s own statistics, fraud in PIP is currently assessed to stand at 0.4%. For universal credit, the figure is 8%, twenty times higher.
Fraud in relation to ASD and ADHD is likely to be even lower, as these are conditions which cannot be diagnosed by a GP. If you planned to commit PIP fraud, these are not the first conditions you would be likely to choose.
We also know that the DWP have redacted other documents on the same grounds, when the reality is that the redacted items could not possibly have aided in committing fraud: DWP argue fraudsters may fake kidney failure if shown unredacted guidance
The reality is that keeping guidance secret leaves the department free to produce biased, ill-informed information which reduces the possibility of successful claims and no-one will be any the wiser.
The refusal to release training documents for these conditions is also likely to extend to every other condition the DWP produce guidance for – though if readers choose to make FoI requests for their own conditions to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., we’d be very interested to hear the results.
