Communities Minister Deirdre Hargey permitted a young for a non-public agency to hold out social safety well being assessments final yr regardless of saying when she took workplace she needed to deliver such contracts in-house.
Private companies perform a spread of well being assessments right here, resembling for Private Independence Funds (PIP) and Employment and Assist Allowance.
Final yr the Public Companies Ombudsman printed a damning report that discovered repeated failures over PIP funds, which it mentioned constituted “systemic maladministration”.
Capita managing director Antony King later appeared earlier than MLAs and apologised to any candidates who have been sad with the PIP evaluation course of.
Ms Hargey took up her publish in January 2020 and harassed that she needed to reverse social safety privatisation.
In line with the Division for Communities’ newest accounts for 2020/21, PIP well being assessments are at the moment undertaken by Capita, with different advantages assessments carried out by Atos. The contracts with the present suppliers will expire on July 31, 2023.
The accounts add: “[The Department for Work and Pensions] established a Well being Transformation Programme (HTP) to remodel the supply of well being evaluation companies, with DfC establishing a parity Well being Transformation Challenge.
“The HTP Define Enterprise Case was permitted by [the] minister and Division of Finance (DoF) to allow the venture to enter the Division for Work and Pensions procurement as a separate Lot (Lot 5), for a single supplier to ship the service with a spread of great enhancements from August 2023. This procurement launched on 12 November 2021 and is ongoing with contract award due within the 2022-23 monetary yr.”
SDLP MLA Mark H Durkan hit out on the state of affairs.
“Regardless of repeated claims by Minister Hargey that her intention is to reverse social safety privatisation and produce issues like PIP assessments in-house, it seems she has as soon as once more declined the chance to take action,” he mentioned.
“Minister Hargey beforehand prolonged the contract of Capita to hold out these assessments, regardless of harrowing testimony from welfare claimants, lots of them with disabilities and different challenges, who went via their humiliating and degrading evaluation course of, with lots of them initially denied much-needed funds which they have been later awarded on attraction.
“The choice to hunt one other supplier to ship these companies flies within the face of the earlier commitments from the minister.
“I respect that the division has thought of the findings of the Public Service Ombudsman’s damning report on Capita and the PIP course of and made efforts to make enhancements, however that may present little consolation for individuals who suffered in consequence.
“I'd urge the minister to reside as much as her phrase and be sure that Capita just isn't awarded the contract to proceed delivering these companies and that strong checks are put in place to make sure that whoever takes over places the wants of PIP claimants on the centre of their work and ensures that persons are handled with dignity and kindness.”
Ulster Unionist MLA Andy Allen mentioned that these processes, whether or not in-house or outsourced, wanted to be “person-centred, offering a caring, compassionate and well timed service, placing the wants of the claimant to the fore with out including further stress and nervousness”.
“This has not all the time been the case, which is unacceptable,” he added.
“The minister has beforehand indicated a need to deliver the well being care report course of in-house.
“Nonetheless, she has not in current instances offered any substantive replace on this work.
“I'd due to this fact name on the minister to element the steps her division have taken to attain this final result.”
The Division for Communities mentioned: “Minister Hargey has made clear that social safety service privatisation needs to be reversed and a return to in-house well being assessments.
“The division is working to progress this.
“Nonetheless, it's going to require Government approval and the mandatory price range.
“Within the meantime, steps have been taken to make sure folks have entry to ongoing assessments. To do in any other case could be a dereliction of obligation.”