Wendy Chamberlain

Culture does seem to be part of the problem in these circumstances. My view is that my caseworkers work incredibly hard, but if systems, processes and institutions worked the way they were supposed to, the casework often would not come to us in the first instance. One of my caseworkers told me that, on the phone, someone can go from being completely fine and talking about their application and their health treatment to being in floods of tears and expressing suicidal thoughts with next to no warning. The DWP is not responsible for the underlying factors and histories of my constituents—let me make that clear—but it is here to provide a safety net. Leaving my constituents in limbo has made everything much worse. Mental and physical health are worse, and trauma responses are triggered. One of my constituents has been advised that there is no point pushing on with investigations and treatment for her pain while so many anxiety-inducing factors are ongoing, so recovery is being impacted too. Being unable to work without the additional health element of universal credit can make it incredibly difficult to make ends meet. As we all know, poverty and ill health is a terrible cycle. The constituents I am working with are trying their best, and I am grateful to the local agencies that offer support. I would like to highlight the work of Fife Women’s Aid and Square Start. The former offers invaluable trauma support and counselling, and the latter can help with all sorts of essential life skills. Many of my constituents have particularly benefited from help with budgeting and managing their finances. However, the reality is that we are all stuck in a holding pattern until the assessments are carried out and decisions are made. My constituents are not alone; they are in a cohort of 35,000 others. The Minister mentioned the steps the Government are taking to reduce the backlog in his letter to me last month. He will be unsurprised to know that I have some questions that I hope he will be able to address today. First, can he explain why his Department has prioritised new work capability assessments over applicants who have notified the DWP about a change in condition? I am not saying that existing claimants should be prioritised, but a “first come, first served” process, or some other type of prioritisation system, might be fairer. Can the Minister explain how the backlog has got so big? If it stems back from before the 2024 election, why is it taking so long to tackle it? What grounds does his Department use for considering expediting reassessment? My caseworkers, coincidentally, went to an information session run by Maximus yesterday, and they, with the 50 or so other staffers on the call, were told that the DWP has the power to approve reassessments being processed if it thinks there are reasonable grounds for doing so. That was news to my team and me, because DWP case handlers have consistently said that Maximus is independent and that it has no influence over its operations. However, we were told yesterday that Maximus is under instruction from DWP to prioritise all new applications, and to look at the backlog of reassessments only if it finds spare capacity. If we write to Maximus and make the case for a reassessment being prioritised, it can escalate it to DWP, and that is where the ultimate decision lies. I would be very keen to hear more about that and confirmation of what we were told yesterday from the Minister. On making things faster, will the Minister please give more details of what is entailed in rapidly expanding reassessment capacity and accelerating the recruitment of health professionals? That goes to the point made by the hon. Member for Strangford. Given work capability assessments are outsourced to companies such as Maximus, what conversations is the Department having with providers about increasing that capacity? How will that be carried out and how will it be allocated geographically? The DWP already carries out some PIP assessments in-house. Has the Department considered adding capacity to work capability assessments with in-house resource? The Minister said in his letter to me that health professionals are being encouraged to make recommendations based on the papers, rather than in person, where possible. What is he doing to make sure those decisions are being made correctly? I am aware, for example, that at least one of my constituents is stuck on a very long waiting list for PTSD and ADHD diagnoses. There are NHS backlogs everywhere, and Scotland, regrettably, is no exception. That leads me on to my next question: how does the Minister intend to ensure, with this rapid expansion, that the right decisions are being made overall? Rushing at this stage and getting it wrong will just push the backlog into mandatory reconsideration, which helps nobody, and will lead to more delays for our constituents and more administration costs for his Department. On a final note, although this is not why I secured this debate, I am aware that the Minister might be minded to mention the planned long-term reforms for work capability assessments. I make a plea for him to think very carefully about what assessments will be used for Scottish applicants, and how those systems will be linked with the DWP. As he knows, we have the adult disability payment under Social Security Scotland, and there are already so many problems that need fixing in how these two systems talk to each other—or do not, as the case may be. My caseworkers have to be experienced in both of these systems. At the moment, failing to fix those foundations and ensuring that the right conversations take place between the Scottish Government and the DWP would be unhelpful for everyone. To conclude, 35,000 people waiting sounds like just another number, but it is the size of a medium town in the UK, or just a little bit smaller than the population of Lichtenstein. There is a significant cost for every person left in limbo, to us as a population and to our wider economy. I hope I have demonstrated that today.