SDLP Foyle MLA Ma\rk H Durkan
Mr Durkan said the PIP appeal figures for the period July 2020 to 31 December 2020 serve as validation for the many concerns and criticisms levelled at the PIP assessment process.
Said the Foyle MLA: “The number of successful PIP appeals here is clear and unequivocal proof that assessments are not being conducted correctly to begin with.
“Conducting and processing these appeals comes at a cost to the public purse which is concerning.
“However, what is more concerning is the anguish, anxiety and inconvenience it causes applicants.
“There has been much criticism of the assessment process, these figures are clear evidence that those concerns and criticisms have been not unfounded.
“Instead they serve as further validation alongside other mounting evidence, that our social welfare system is not fit for purpose.
“It also makes the Communities Minister’s decision to extend Capita’s contract for a further two years all the more baffling, particularly when her own party has been among Capita’s biggest critics.
“Furthermore, delays plaguing the appeal process has been exacerbated by the onset of the pandemic.
“We now have a system failing people in the first instance, only to force them into appalling backlogs, waiting months to appeal a wrongful decision for support to which they are entitled.
“The PIP system is pushing disabled applicants into poverty and in the process aggravating already poor health conditions.
“This cannot go unchallenged.
“The system is not serving its intended purpose but rather putting increasing pressures on already struggling individuals.”
