Consultation outcome

Richmond AID response

Updated 23 March 2020

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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/how-should-dwp-involve-disabled-people-in-changing-how-it-works/richmond-aid-response

If DWP have not engaged with you in the past, please answer the following questions:

1. Question 7

In what ways do you think you could have made a valuable and constructive contribution to DWP’s work, and what would be the most effective way for DWP engage with you?

1.1 Question 7 response

As a user led disability organisation with more than 10 years experience of providing benefits advice to disabled people we feel we could certainly make a valuable contribution to shaping policy including:

  • Ensuring forms are more easily understood and accessible for disabled people

  • Support to make face to face assessments more friendly and accessible, taking into account client disabilities

  • User testing with our clients

  • We are in a position to spot emerging trends before they become an issue

The most effective way the DWP can engage with us.

  • How do we know consultations are taking place? This was shared by Inclusion London and without that we would not have know about this consultation.

  • The DWP need to understand that as a small charity with limited resources we need to feel assured that if we give our time it is valued, respected and acted on.

  • Focus groups at our location or at locations that are easy for us to access and don’t take that much time out of the day

  • Paying people/organisations for their time/contribution or expertise

  • Consultations should be accessible and not too long.

2. Question 8

Would you wish to engage with DWP in future? Please provide the reasons for your answer?

2.1 Question 8 response

Yes, potentially. We feel we would have valuable insights for the DWP as a provider of benefits advice to disabled people. We have concerns about the capacity re time constraints.

3. Question 9

What would be the most effective way for DWP to make sure you could engage with them?

3.1 Question 9 response

  • Focus groups where they come to our organisation

  • Appropriate time scales – 6 weeks response schedule

  • Email consultations

  • Case studies

We would specifically like the opportunities to present the issues that our clients face throughout the journey from initial application to tribunal, and to work with the DWP in a constructive way to resolve the issues or co-produce solutions.

4. Question 10

Are there any areas or types of engagement that you would not have with the department?

4.1 Question 10 response

We have some concerns about large scale events that take up a lot of our time.

5. Question 11

Please tell us about other engagement you have had on disability issues with public sector or other organisations outside of DWP?

5.1 Question 11 response

For example:

We have responded to Inclusion London consultations which are accessible for us.

We have engaged with the customer care group (CCG) where we have co-produced events and we have been a key partner or led on the events.

6. Question 12

Do you have any suggestions to develop the process for you to be able to engage with DWP in future?

  • Tell us a forward plan for the year.
  • Tell us if our contribution influenced policy in any way.
  • Pay us for our time – recognising that time out of the office is time away from our clients.
  • Have a range of options for engagement e.g. events or online survey.

7. Question 13

What would be your minimum expectations of who the department should consult, and how that consultation should take place, to provide reassurance that decisions taken by the Department are well-informed and credible?

7.1 Question 13 response

We would like to see your plan for consulting and including disabled people in the engagement of your services and comment on that. There is such a wide range of areas to be considered and it is impossible to answer a question like this in a concise and meaningful way.

We would like to see reports of the consultations that DWP have made and the changes they have made as a result of user engagement.

8. Question 14

Is there any other evidence on this subject you would like to add?

8.1 Question 14 response

No response.

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