dla reassessments

Does anyone know where the gov is up to on their timetable for dla to pip, will it be done by May?  How many invitations are left to send out?

I have a number of clients awaiting the process.

they state it should be the end of 2018 beg 2019 and are chosen at random..

where did you get the end 18 beginning 19 from?
thanks

The original intention was to have finished the transfer by October 2017. The timetable document has been withdrawn and as far as I can tell it has not been replaced with anything. In the North West we have just under 30% outstanding but this varies considerably from area to area. The process itself is anything but random (not to be confused with the decision making, which clearly is random). The cohorts remain as previously detailed so the cases outstanding are largely 50 to 59 with other conversions being triggered by the usual mix of incompetence; unnecessary phone calls; changes of circumstance and so on.

The process itself seems to be going about half the speed it did last year and there are lots of factors in play which contribute to that, including a shortage of DMs; a backlog for, and increasing number of complaints about, assessment providers; a backlog of MR decisions to make; a growing number of appeals. The valve on decisions seems to be very tightly controlled. The number of face to faces appears to be holding steady or falling (I’m coming across a surprising number of cases being dealt with on scrutiny in circumstances which appear to amount to no more than it being easier for an under pressure provider at that moment in time).

As it stands I don’t believe there’s any evidence of an end date.

As an aside, during the debate on PIP reassessments following MH and the quashed regulations yesterday, Sarah Newton says (at column 706) -

Just over half of people on disability living allowance have gone through the managed process to PIP

What that means timewise I don’t know…

Hi Daphne, over here https://www.rightsnet.org.uk/forums/viewthread/8359/#53430  you posted this last summer:

Daphne - 16 July 2017 02:08 PM

Just an update from a colleague who attended the PIP forum -

On the planned timetable for DLA to PIP migration both Assessment Providers are continuing to work to the current planning assumption that ‘full PIP rollout’ activity (reassessment of DLA claimants for PIP) will have concluded mid-2019 (so invitation letters issued by late 2018).

This is no longer the current understanding I presume?

I don’t know Billy to be honest - I can put in a query via stakeholders - but I suspect the question won’t be top of their priorities at the moment ;)

OK Daphne.

EDIT
Forget what I wrote, misread the above post ;-/

I looked at the stats on Stat Xplore about 6 weeks ago and it was just over half were converted. Other than that, from PIP OSEF meetings I’ve been to, Capita were hoping to be doing 140k assessments a month by now but at the last meet they were only managing 90k; still up a good margin from the 60k at the beginning of last year. They reported being on track to complete the conversion in 2019.

Hail - is there any update on this? I have seen mid-2019 and then the end of 2019 mentioned.

I put in a FoI as I couldn’t find anything. I was sent this link. I, like the MP below, obviously didn’t ask a sufficiently-focused question, and so got the smart- alecky answer.

Department for Work and Pensions

Personal Independence Payment
177293

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the latest projected end date is for the migration from disability living allowance personal independence payment.

Answered by: Sarah Newton
Answered on: 15 October 2018

We continue to review the pace of Disability Living Allowance (DLA) to Personal Independence Payment (PIP) reassessment activity on a regular basis to make sure that we are striking an appropriate balance between inviting eligible claimants to claim PIP in a timely manner and ensuring the system is working as effectively as possible. Children in receipt of DLA when reaching age 16 will continue to be invited to claim PIP at that point.

... meanwhile, in Northern Ireland, the NI Audit Office reports (at page 4) -

The Department is making good progress in reassessing around 128,000 existing working-age DLA claimants for Personal Independence Payment and expects to complete this work by April 2019.

And of course the OBR’s comment -

‘The government assumed initially that PIP would be fully rolled out by 2015/2016 and that it would cost 20 per cent less than DLA would have done. In fact, by 2017/2018 it was costing around 15 to 20 per cent more, with rollout only around two-thirds complete.’

The OBR Economic and fiscal outlook published today alongside the Spring Statement says at para A9 -

The ‘full PIP rollout’ has been delayed and we now assume that it will not be completed until February 2021 (rather than early 2020).