Research and analysis

Executive summary

Published 7 October 2024

DWP conducted a Health Assessment Channels Trial to evaluate how well telephone and video assessments are working compared to face-to-face assessments. This report presents findings from mixed-method research conducted by Ipsos to understand the impact of the introduction of remote channels on claimant experiences.

Research design

This research comprises a multi-mode (online and CATI) survey conducted between the 3rd of March and 1st of May 2023. In total 7,262 responses were received from Personal Independence Payment (PIP), Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) or Universal Credit (UC) claimants who had an initial health assessment for their benefit between June 2022 and January 2023.

Key Drivers Analysis was run using the quantitative data. This identified which areas of the assessment were most important in determining participant agreement that that the assessor had understood their condition and how it affected their everyday life (for PIP claimants) or ability to work (for UC or ESA claimants).

Sixty follow-up qualitative telephone interviews were also conducted to understand the assessment experience in more depth.

Findings

Findings from the quantitative survey, Key Drivers Analysis and qualitative interviews did not identify clear patterns in claimant beliefs that the assessor understood their health condition or disability, or that they had been able to explain this properly, by assessment channel.

Rather, Key Drivers Analysis identified that perceptions of whether the assessor had understood their health condition or how it affected them were driven by agreement that:

• the questions which were asked allowed them to explain how their condition affected them
• the assessor had understood their application form and other evidence
• the assessor had listened to them during the assessment

The qualitative research found that positive interactions with an assessor were characterised by the assessor explaining the assessment process, having a high degree of confidence in the assessor’s ability to assess their condition and the assessment feeling tailored to their condition (or understanding the purpose of questions which felt less relevant).

This suggests that assessors should prioritise these behaviours. The evidence suggests that assessors can demonstrate these behaviours across all three assessment channels (face-to-face, telephone or video).

PIP claimants were more likely to express uncertainty about all the channels. This suggests that PIP claimants may need additional support or reassurance through the assessment process.

Claimants were more likely to agree a channel was suitable after experiencing it. Future preferences for assessment channel were strongly correlated to the channel claimants had experienced most recently. Participants who had a positive interaction with the assessor also had high confidence in their assessment channel.

In the survey, awareness of the ability to change channel amongst trial participants was low. A minority of participants had changed from the assessment channel initially allocated for their assessment. The qualitative interviews identified that participants only changed their assessment channel when they could not attend the channel they had originally been allocated. They did this regardless of whether they recalled that they had been told they could change their assessment channel.

When asked in the survey if they would like a choice of which channel their assessment is conducted by in the future, nearly nine in ten said that they would. In the qualitative research, offering a choice of assessment was seen as giving participants control over part of the process, empowering them. Participants felt they could choose the channel which they felt was appropriate for their condition and needs.