Official Statistics

ESA underpayments: progress on checking July 2019

Published 18 July 2019

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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/esa-underpayments-progress-on-checking-july-2019/esa-underpayments-progress-on-checking-july-2019

The latest release of these statistics can be found in the ESA underpayments collection.

Policy background and introduction

1. Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) was introduced in October 2008 for people who have limited capability to work because they are disabled or ill. From March 2011 the department began reassessing people on incapacity benefits (for example Incapacity Benefit and Severe Disablement Allowance) for eligibility for ESA.

2. More than 2 million claimants were receiving incapacity benefits before reassessment began and we have now reassessed around 1.5 million people, nearly all of those who required a reassessment.

3. The department is correcting some past underpayments of ESA, which arose while reassessing incapacity benefit claims.

What you need to know

4. There are 2 main types of ESA:

  • contributory, which is based on National Insurance contributions
  • income-related, which is a means-tested benefit, income-related ESA can be paid on its own or as a top-up to contributory ESA

5. Extra payments, called premiums, are available only to qualifying customers who are eligible for income-related benefits. These include the Enhanced Disability, Severe Disability, Carer, and Pensioner Premiums.

6. Largely between January 2011 and October 2014 some people receiving Incapacity Benefit and Severe Disablement Allowance had their claims converted to contributory ESA. However, the possibility of whether they may also have been entitled to income-related ESA was not considered for all cases. This means they may have missed out on the payment of premiums, such as the Enhanced Disability Premium.

7. The department announced it would be undertaking an exercise to review cases to check entitlement for income-related ESA in December 2017, with work on the exercise commencing that month.

Purpose of publication

8. This analytical release follows previous publications on ESA underpayments in October 2018, February 2019 and May 2019. This publication presents an update, from the department’s management information, of progress on checking potentially affected cases as at 14 July 2019. It includes progress for the exercise as a whole and separately for deceased cases in a number of areas:

  • the number of cases which have started the reassessment journey
  • number of cases contacted to date
  • number of cases completed to date
  • number of cases found not to be due arrears payments to date
  • number of cases found to be due arrears payments to date
  • the total amount of historical arrears the department has paid out in correcting these cases
  • average arrears payment to date

Revision

9. During the quality assurance of the data feeding into this publication (18 July 2019), the department’s analysts identified a discrepancy in the figures used from February 2019 to report the numbers of cases paid arrears. Specifically, the figures included:

  • cases with some entitlement to income-related ESA but who were not entitled to any arrears – this would be because the levels of their income, capital or other benefits meant their income-related entitlement was less than their contributory entitlement so they were not missing out on ESA payments
  • cases which were not entitled at conversion but have reported a change through this exercise – this means they are entitled to income-related ESA going forwards but not entitled to arrears payments

The method of calculating the number of cases qualifying for arrears payments has been revised for published progress updates to ensure it only reflects those who have been paid arrears. The affected figures published in February 2019 and May 2019 have been revised to enable a comparison to be made.

10. The revisions have had the following impacts on the published figures from February 2019:

  • the number of cases that had completed the reassessment journey without payment of arrears is higher by around 7,000 in February 2019 and 12,000 in May 2019
  • the number of cases reported to have been paid arrears is lower by around 7,000 in February 2019 and 12,000 in May 2019
  • the rounded average arrears payment to date is higher by around £1,000 in May 2019, while there is no visible change to the rounded amount published in February 2019

All other figures reported are unaffected.

Results

Progress on checking cases

11. Table 1 below summarises the department’s management information from the whole of the ESA Underpayments checking exercise at 14 July 2019 compared to the last update from 12 May 2019. The table includes work across both the original Phase 1 cases identified as potentially affected and the Phase 2 cases which came into scope following the Secretary of State’s announcement in July 2018 to pay all cases back to the point of conversion.

12. Since the last publication, focus in the exercise has gradually shifted from the completion of Phase 1 cases to the processing of cases in Phase 2. Since 12 May 2019:

  • around 130,000 additional cases have started the reassessment journey
  • around 130,000 additional cases have been contacted to gather information to assess their entitlement
  • around 10,000 cases paid arrears before the department’s announcement in July 2018 that all affected cases would be paid to the date of their conversion[footnote 1] have also been revisited and paid additional arrears due for the period prior to 21 October 2014

13. To date:

  • around 85%[footnote 2] of the cases to be checked have started the reassessment journey
  • processing of approximately 60% of the potentially affected group has been completed

Table 1: Progress on checking cases potentially affected by underpayments of ESA on conversion from previous incapacity benefits

Out of the 600,000 cases to be checked: 14 July 2019 12 May 2019
Number of cases that have started the reassessment journey (see note 7) 520,000 390,000
Number of cases the department has contacted to gather data to review their claims (see note 8) 460,000 330,000
Number of cases that have completed the reassessment journey (see note 9) 371,000 296,000
Number of cases completed the reassessment journey without payment of arrears (see note 10) 282,000 222,000*
Number of cases qualifying for arrears payments 88,000 74,000*
Total amount of historical arrears paid to date £528 million £456 million
Average arrears payment to date £6,000 £6,000*

*These figures have been revised since the last publication. See paragraphs 9 and 10 for further information.

14. Around 50,000 of the 600,000 cases to be checked are where the claimant is deceased. Table 2 shows that out of this group, the number of cases that have started the reassessment journey has increased from around 10,000 to around 20,000. When reviewing cases, the department firstly checks the information held on various departmental administrative systems and only in those cases where we are unable to confirm the previous award of ESA was correct do we attempt to identify and contact next of kin. Cases where the claimant is deceased take longer to process due to difficulties in identifying and contacting the next of kin and obtaining information on which to assess entitlement.

Table 2: Progress on checking deceased cases potentially affected by underpayments of ESA on conversion from previous incapacity benefits

Out of the around 50,000 deceased cases to be checked: 14 July 2019 12 May 2019
Number of cases that have started the reassessment journey (see note 7) 20,000 10,000
Number of next of kin the department has contacted to gather data to review deceased cases (see note 8) <5,000 <5,000
Number of cases that have completed the reassessment journey (see note 9) 10,000 7,000
Number of cases completed the reassessment journey without payment of arrears (see note 10) 9,000 6,000
Number of cases qualifying for arrears payments 1,000 1,000
Total amount of historical arrears paid to date £5 million £5 million
Average arrears payment to date £5,000 £5,000

Notes

1. Data is reported without detailed verification.

2. The revisions to methodology described in paragraphs 9 and 10 have led to changes to the following figures reported in May 2019: the number of cases qualifying for arrears payments, the number of cases completing the reassessment journey without payment of arrears and the average arrears payment to date. The revisions applied to both cases that have deceased and those that have not, but due to rounding the changes are only visible in Table 1.

3. The figures date from 14 July 2019. They are changing rapidly as around 1,200 staff continue to work on the exercise to check potentially affected cases.

4. The number of cases started the reassessment journey or contacted is rounded to the nearest 10,000; the number of cases completed is rounded to the nearest 1,000; the total amount of historical arrears paid is rounded to the nearest £1 million and the average arrears payment is rounded to the nearest £1,000.

5. Figures may not sum due to rounding.

6. Table 1 shows progress on checking both deceased and non-deceased cases.

7. Starting the reassessment journey includes checking information held on various departmental administrative systems to identify which cases needed to be contacted or contacting cases with a high risk of underpayment without conducting prior checks.

8. Around 50,000 cases, including more than 5,000 cases where the claimant has died, have been identified as not entitled during checks of DWP administrative systems prior to making contact, and consequently have not been contacted. Further cases are awaiting customer contact following initial checks.

9. Completing the reassessment journey includes cases identified on DWP administrative systems as not entitled or who have identified themselves as not entitled prior to assessment, or who have not responded to multiple attempts to contact by phone or post over an 8-week period and also cases which have been through the full journey to assessment. Cases who have not responded are able to respond in future.

10. Completing the reassessment journey without payment of arrears includes cases identified on DWP administrative systems as not entitled, or who have identified themselves as not entitled prior to assessment, or who have not responded to multiple attempts to contact by phone or post over an 8-week period as well as cases found not to be entitled at assessment. Cases who have not responded are able to respond in future.

11. The average arrears payment to date reflects the initial focus on Phase 1 cases, which are expected to have arrears spanning longer periods than those in later phases of the checking exercise.

12. Cases completed the reassessment journey include some cases that were reviewed before the decision to pay cases to the date of their conversion, rather than 21 October 2014, and will therefore need to be revisited to assess entitlement in the earlier period.

Source: DWP management information from the ESA underpayment checking exercise at 14 July 2019.

Statement of Compliance with the Code of Practice for Statistics

The Code of Practice for Statistics (the Code) is built around three main concepts, or pillars: Trustworthiness, Quality and Value. The following explains how we have applied the pillars of the Code in a proportionate way.

Trustworthiness – is about having confidence in the people and organisations that publish statistics

Progress on the ESA Underpayments checking exercise is based upon DWP Management Information, supplied via a data capture tool built to allow consistent and efficient recording of case review progress in the ESA Underpayments checking exercise.

Quality – is about using data and methods that produce assured statistics

The data presented on checking progress is from the data capture tool developed to accurately record progress and levels of arrears payments. Drop down menus and built-in validation checks assist in reliable data recording. Data recording checks are carried out by operational staff. Small samples of figures have been cross-checked across jobcentres. The department’s analysts have challenged some figures and definitions to ensure accurate representations of the activity undertaken. The methodological changes described in paragraphs 9 and 10 result from such challenges.

Value – is about publishing statistics that support society’s needs for information.

This release provides a progress update on the checking exercise following on from the last release on 16 May 2019, together with context for those figures.

In addition, it aims to reduce the administrative burden of answering Parliamentary Questions, Freedom of Information requests and ad hoc queries to ensure timely responses to public queries.

To support financial planning and management of departmental business, figures have been seen in advance by Ministers and officials, as pre-release access restrictions do not apply for management information.

The department intends to release future updates on progress on checking cases on the 17 October 2019 and 16 January 2020.

Where to find out more

Contact information

The department will be contacting all those identified as potentially impacted to get the information we need to look again at ESA claims. We have already contacted a large number of customers and aim to contact everyone affected by December 2019.

  1. Initially the department believed it was legally restricted to only making repayments from 2014 due to a statutory rule (section 27 of the Social Security Act 1998) which governs the position with regard to payment of arrears when a court or tribunal finds that the department has made an error of law. ↩

  2. Completion rates rounded to the nearest 5% ↩

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