Conclusión: Las clases sociales como portadores de determinadas estructuras

11.14.1 Number and sources of supporting statements

In Section 2 of the DLA and AA claim forms claimants have the opportunity of obtaining up to two `supporting statements', one from a person who has knowledge

of how a claimant's disabilities affect their everyday life, and one from a doctor, health professional, teacher or someone else with knowledge about the claimant's illness or disability. As Table 11.29 shows most claims included at least one such

statement.

Table 11.29 Proportion of claims which included statements in support of the claim

DLA AA

Number of supporting statement(s) obtained (%) (%)

None 19 23

One 52 54

Two 26 18

Don't know 4 5

Total 1346 186

Source: Survey of new claimants.

As Table 11.30 shows, over three-quarters of people obtaining statements went to their GP. The second most common group approached for help was relatives and

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friends. The percentage columns in the table sum to more than 100 per cent because of multiple responses.

Table 11.30 Sources of supporting statements

Source of supporting DLA AA

statement (N) _(%) (N) (%) GP 779 75 99 74 Relative or friend 310 30 33 25 Social worker 48 5 5 4 Hospital doctor 51 5 6 5 Paramedical worker 53 5 1 1

Nursing/residential home staff 43 4 11 8

School 37 4 0 0

Other 103 7 11 8

Totals 1387 1056 166 133

Source: Survey of new claimants.

11.14.2 Time taken to obtain statements

Obtaining supporting statements is a potential source of delay in submitting a claim which can affect the date on which an award will commence unless Section 1

of the claim pack is returned independently. Table 11.31 shows a comparison between how long people waited for a GP or a relative or friend (the two most common sources) to supply a statement and the times for all sources.

Table 11.31 Times waited for supporting statements to be supplied

All

DLA

GP Relative All

AA

GP Relative

sources friend sources friend

Time waited _{(%) (%) (%) (%) (%) (%)}

Less than one week 90 88 97 83 74 94*

1-2 weeks 6 7 1 9 13 3*

2-3 weeks 2 2 _(.) 5 8 0*

3-4 weeks 1 1 1 1 3*

Longer than 4 weeks 1 1 1 1 3 0*

Total' 1284 701 296 158 77 29

Source: Survey of new claimants.

` Don't know' responses excluded from these totals. * Percentages based on fewer than 50 cases. (.) = < 0.5 per cent

Generally, those asked to supply supporting statements appeared to have responded very quickly, the large majority of forms being returned within a week. GPs appear to perform slightly below average, particularly for AA claims. Although the picture presented in the table might appear very satisfactory, it should be remembered that unless a claimant has sent in Section 1 of the claim pack beforehand, any delay caused by waiting for a statement to be completed will effectively result in lost benefit.

11.14.3 Reasons for not getting statements

Where appropriate, people were asked why they did not get any supporting statements. Table 11.32 presents the responses of the 250 DLA respondents who answered the question of whom 20 each gave two responses, and the 43 AA respondents of whom three gave two reasons. The percentage column in the table sums to more than 100 per cent because of multiple responses.

Table 11.32 Reasons for not getting supporting statements

DLA AA

Reason for not getting supporting statement (N) ( %) (N) (%)

Didn't think it was necessary 134 54 25 58*

Didn't want to bother anyone 30 12 4 9*

Didn't notice it on claim form 22 9 2 5*

Thought it would take too long 19 8 -

Difficult finding an appropriate person 11 4 2 5*

Prefer the DSS to get statements if necessary 11 4 - -

Didn't want others to know my business 5 2 2 5*

Did not want any help 3 1 4 9*

Other reason 14 6 3 7*

Don't know 15 6 4 9*

Total 270 250 46 43

Source: Survey of new claimants.

* Percentages based on fewer than 50 cases.

Over half of the respondents did not get supporting statements because they did not think it necessary. This is despite the request on the claim form which reads: `Please get the statements on the next two pages filled in.' However, this seemingly unequivocal message is possibly weakened two paragraphs later by the following

sentence: `If you cannot get these statements filled in, do not worry - we will normally write to your doctor or someone else who can tell us about your illness or disability.' Some thought might therefore be given to whether this message could be reworded to encourage more people to get supporting statements. As we will see in the next section, a claim is more likely to be decided on the claim form alone if it contains supporting statements. This will, at least, reduce the time necessary to decide the claim.

11.14.4 The effect of supporting statements on how claims are processed

Table 11.33 shows how the number of supporting statements obtained by claimants appears to have affected later choices by the Benefits Agency adjudication officers about what further evidence was collected. For both DLA and AA there is a greater likelihood that a claim is decided on the fosin only if it includes one or two supporting statements. Where further evidence was sought, however, adjudication officers relied more on GP factual reports than EMP reports to help them decide DLA cases, and vice versa for AA cases.

Table 11.33 Method of assessment by number of supporting statements obtained (DLA and AA samples) DLA - number of supporting statements AA - number of supporting statements 0 1 2 0 1 2 Method of assessment (%) (%) (%) (%) (%) (%)

Claim form only 37 44 53 49* 60 63*

GP factual report 34 27 24 10* 13 17*

EMP report 26 25 19 34* 22 10*

Other 3 4 4 7* 5 10*

Total 251 698 346 41 94 30

Sources: Survey of new claimants and the DLA database. * Percentages based on fewer than 50 cases.

11.14.5 Outcomes of claims with no supporting statements and no further evidence

Of those who answered the question about whether they obtained any supporting statements, 251 DLA respondents (19 per cent) and 43 AA respondents (23 per cent) replied that they had not. The internal policy of the Benefits Agency is that such cases should not be paid without some form of further information being obtained. However, as Table 11.34 above shows, over a third of DLA claims (37 per cent) and nearly half of the AA claims (49 per cent) appear to have been decided on the claim form alone. Table 11.34 below compares the outcomes of

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these claims with the outcomes of claims (with no supporting statements) for which further evidence was obtained by the Benefits Agency.

Table 11.34 Outcomes of claims with no supporting statements

DLA AA

Successful Successful Method of assessment (N) claims (%) (N) claims ( %)

Claim form only 92 43 20 35*

Claim form plus further evidence 101 64 20 20*

Sources: Survey of new claimants and the DLA database. * Percentages based on fewer than 50 cases.

Of the 92 DLA claimants whose claims appear to have been decided solely on their own evidence, 43 per cent were successful compared with 64 per cent of other claimants who did not obtain supporting statements. These success rates contrast with the overall success rate of the DLA claimants in the sample (around 75 per cent). The numbers of AA cases in the table are small but also show a relatively low success rate compared with the whole of the AA sample (around 57 per cent).

Table 11.34 raises an interesting issue. Regulations allow adjudication officers to make decisions on claims which have no supporting statements and for which they decide no further information (such as a GP or EMP report) is necessary. If the adjudication officer intends to make an award though, the Secretary of State requires corroborative evidence of the claimant's identity and of their disabling condition before a payment can be made. However, as Table 11.34 shows, 43 per cent of DLA claims for which no further evidence was collected were successful (40 cases). If corroborative evidence in the form of a GP or EMP report had been sought in each of these cases the percentage success rate of `claim form only' cases would be zero. We would not expect a zero per cent success rate in practice because corroborative evidence might have legitimately been gathered from a claimant's existing social security record. However, a success rate of 43 per cent does suggest that there are a small number of claims for which the requisite administrative action is not being followed.