Closed petition Review the effectiveness of benefit assessments and experience of claimants

Closed on 22 May 2024

We want a review on:

1. the ability of caseworkers to assess claims, including the need for assessors (who write reports for caseworkers) to have experience of the conditions they assess, and other resources available to the caseworker.

2. the experience of claimants including the tone of letters.

We believe that assessors need experience of the conditions they are assessing and that caseworkers should use additional resources such as a panel of experts to help understand conditions and/or medical terminology. A review must look at issues that arise from assessors not having relevant experience and the caseworkers not having sufficient time or resources to do adequate research into a condition beyond reading the assessors report. We also believe that the tone of award letters can be accusatory, interrogatory, and extremely upsetting, especially if the claimant is vulnerable.