Work and Pensions written question – answered at on 28 February 2013.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of (a) the Atos Healthcare average clearance target and (b) the performance of Atos against that target in (i) 2011 and (ii) 2012.
Atos Healthcare are not contractually accountable for a national employment and support allowance (ESA) target. Contractually there are a number of Actual Average Clearance Targets (AACT) for the various medical services, varying in how they are measured between the Department and Atos Healthcare.
The contracted service level is to clear ESA medical assessments with an AACT of 35 working days. Although there is no formal AACT for Incapacity Benefit Reassessments (IBR), DWP monitor performance against the same target for ESA. Please see following table for AACT performance from January 2011 to December 2012.
AACT | ||
ESA | IBR | |
January 2011 | 36.7 | (1)— |
February 2011 | 33.3 | (1)— |
March 2011 | 31.8 | (1)— |
April 2011 | 33 | (1)— |
May 2011 | 33.2 | (1)— |
June 2011 | 34.5 | 29.2 |
July 2011 | 38.6 | 36.9 |
August 2011 | 42.6 | 41.9 |
September 2011 | 49.7 | 42.7 |
October 2011 | 57.1 | 42.7 |
November 2011 | 62.8 | 43.3 |
December 2012 | 63.9 | 43.0 |
January 2012 | 65.0 | 43.4 |
February 2012 | 67.5 | 43.6 |
March 2012 | 63.0 | 43.4 |
April 2012 | 58.9 | 44.4 |
May 2012 | 58.7 | 43.2 |
June 2012 | 56.6 | 43.5 |
July 2012 | 53.5 | 44.1 |
August 2012 | 52.0 | 45.1 |
September 2012 | 51.7 | 46.1 |
October 2012 | 48.9 | 43.9 |
November 2012 | 46.7 | 41.3 |
December 2012 | 45.4 | 40.7 |
(1) No data available. Source: ESA AACT Clearance Distribution Reports (national) |
Following the Department's acceptance of Professor Harrington's recommendations, the introduction of the Personal Summary Statement (PSS) in 2011 had a major impact on the Actual Average Clearance Target (AACT) for Work Capability Assessment clearances. The introduction of the PSS resulted in an increase to the Medical Standard Time, ie the time taken on average to conduct a face to face medical assessment, which reduced the capacity to deliver planned numbers of assessments.
Following on from this, Atos Healthcare has continued to deliver a service which has seen a reduction in their performance against the clearance targets.
DWP and Atos Healthcare meet formally on a monthly basis to discuss performance and agree improvement activity with the aim of achieving the 35 day AACT.
Yes0 people think so
No0 people think not
Would you like to ask a question like this yourself? Use our Freedom of Information site.