DISABLED Scots who lose out on key vehicles or payments are having to wait nearly five months for their appeals against the decisions to be heard.
Claimants who previously claimed Disability Living Allowance (DLA) have been transferred to a new benefit Personal Independence Payment (PIP) under welfare reforms.
But with the UK Government hoping the move will cut spending by 20 per cent, charities say tens of thousands of disabled Scots are losing out on benefits under the changes, either seeing payments cut entirely reduced, with others losing out on aids such as motability vehicles.
Many decisions are overturned on appeal, but official figures obtained by Inverclyde MP Ronnie Cowan, show appeals are taking months to be resolved, leaving the disabled reliant on food banks in some cases to survive.
HM Courts and Tribunals Service figures show that the time taken for appeals to be settled has risen steadily since PIP was rolled out in 2014. Across Scotland, in 2014, The average waiting time for an appeal against a mandatory reconsideration of a decision on personal independence payments was 12 weeks, but is now 15 weeks. In Mr Cowan’s Greenock constituency, the figure is higher still at 19 weeks.
He described the figures as shocking and said the system was fundamentally flawed.
“In Inverclyde alone, people are waiting almost five months to learn the fate of their appeal to the UK Government, which is either cutting or stopping their payments.” Mr Cowan said.
“While waiting for the decision of an appeal the claimant has already lost their payment and this can lead many people being referred to foodbanks. This is a scandal and further evidence that the UK Government are failing some of the most vulnerable in our society,” he added.
He approached Minister for Disabled People, Penny Mordaunt, after receiving continued correspondence from constituents who have lost their benefit entitlement and cars under the Motability scheme, while their appeals were still being heard.
One constituent said appeals were vital and needed to be heard more promptly.
He claimed PIP was letting them down: “The forms are extremely complex, the people who conduct the assessments often don’t understand the difficulties people face, and the rules mean many people who used to get support are now losing out,” he wrote. “Decisions are often wrong, even after mandatory reconsideration stage, and have to go to appeal,” he said.
Mr Cowan highlighted problems experienced by local people with Ms Mordaunt and has put together a briefing document to assist hundreds of Inverclyde constituents he says are facing difficulties with PIP. The SNP MP added: “At a time when MP’s from both sides are urging the UK Government to halt the rollout out of universal credit, these PIP figures demonstrate how lacking in compassion and humanity the current welfare system is,” he said.
In his letter to Ms Mordaunt, Mr Cowan said PIP was designed to treat all conditions fairly and added: “it is only right support is targeted at those disabled people who require the most assistance to lead independent lives and PIP is achieving that,” she said. She said only eight percent of decision were appealed, half of those successfully.
However, in a report last month the Disability Benefit Consortium, a coalition of disability charities, claimed 64 per cent of appeals in the last quarter of 2016/17 had been successful and PIP appeals now made up 45 per cent of the work of the Social Security and Child Support tribunals.
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