Personal Independence Payment
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to ensure the accessibility of PIP assessment centres for people with disabilities.
Answered by Sir Stephen Timms
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) takes its responsibility to ensure all individuals have access to our services without disadvantage very seriously. We have a range of provisions in place to ensure assessments are accessible to all individuals, in line with the standards under the Equality Act 2010.
At all stages of the claim, individuals are asked to advise of any individual restrictions which could prevent / limit their ability to attend an assessment centre. Assessment suppliers will accommodate these or, if more suitable, make alternative arrangements for the individual to visit a different assessment centre or be assessed via a different assessment channel.
Our agreement with the suppliers regarding accessibility of the assessment centres is detailed in Annex 2 - Design Standards of part 3 of the Functional Assessment Service contracts. This is available on GOV.UK contracts finder - Functional Assessment Service (FAS) 2024 - Contracts Finder.
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