The Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) has been accused of showing “systematic hostility to those in need” after it emerged that hundreds of vulnerable people across Aberdeenshire have wrongly been forced to wait for payments.
Figures published yesterday revealed that significant numbers of benefits claimants across the north-east have had legitimate claims rejected by government officials.
Freedom of Information figures showed that, between April 2013 and December 2018, 68% of appeals were successful and the money was eventually paid out.
Of the 680 appeals lodged in Aberdeenshire in those five years, 460 claims which had been initially refused were overturned.
Personal Independence Payments are being rolled out across the UK as a replacement for the Living Allowance as the main benefit for disabled or ill people.
The change has not come without controversy, as private companies have been brought in to carry out assessments on claimants.
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The DWP has said that 90% of national claims are made and completed without the need for appeal – stressing that procedures are constantly reviewed to ensure they are working.
And the body insisted that decisions were often delayed purely because more evidence of a person’s inability to work was required.
But Banffshire and Buchan Coast MSP, Stewart Stevenson, believes the number of rejected legitimate claims is evidence of a failure to protect society’s most vulnerable people.
He said: “Disabled people in Aberdeenshire rely on these financial lifelines to live independently and be part of their community.
“For the DWP to get these cases so consistently wrong suggests a systematic hostility towards people in need.”
The SNP member added: “The Tory government’s punitive approach to the system simply isn’t working. It’s failing vulnerable people, withdrawing support from those who need it most, and leaving people out of pocket and unable to afford the basic essentials.
“It is vital that these fundamental flaws in the current assessment appeals process are urgently addressed.”
A DWP spokesman said: “Personal independent payments are a better benefit which takes a much wider look at the way a person’s health condition or disability impacts them on a daily basis.
“In fact, nine in 10 of all these claims are made and completed without appeal and, since it was introduced, there have been 3.9 million decisions made and, of these, 5% have been overturned at appeal.
“In many successful appeals, decisions are overturned because people have submitted more oral or written evidence.”