Benefit Integrity Project (Hansard, 29 June 1998)

§ Mr. Denham

The administration of this programme is a matter for Peter Mathison, Chief Executive of the Benefits Agency. He will write to the hon. Member.

Letter from Peter Mathison to Mr. Paul Burstow, dated 25 June 1998: The Secretary of State for Social Security has asked me to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking when her Department will start to review the cases of people subject to the Benefit Integrity Project (BIP) prior to 9 February. Ministers announced on 17 June that certain cases decided under the BIP before 9 February would be re-examined. The cases affected are those where the decision to reduce or remove benefit was made 119W on the basis of the customer's statement alone, and where the customer has not exercised their right to ask for a review of the decision. The Benefits Agency is aware of the commitment to bring this in as quickly as possible. Work is already underway to identify how we might best proceed, recognising the particular sensitivities surrounding this work. The intention is to write to customers giving them the opportunity to apply for their case to be re-examined. At the same time, we need to notify them that there is no guarantee of a positive outcome to a review of the BIP decision, but we need to do that in a way that does not deter them from applying for a re-examination if that is their choice. We want to consult disability organisations about the wording of the letter and the proposed procedures, all of which will have to be cleared by legal advisors within the Department. It is vital that we get this right and that, of course, will take time. The Agency is currently recruiting additional staff from mainstream Disability Living Allowance to deal with this work, and again we are looking at this to ensure that these moves have the minimum impact on our other customers. I hope you find this information helpful and that it explains why we are not yet in a position to set a firm start date for the exercise. I will, of course, write to you again as soon as the matter has been decided.