The Timms review has launched its abysmal “Workshop in a Box” consultation which requires organisations which choose to participate to organise and fund their own consultations in less than six weeks. The guidance suggests giving participants vouchers, but does not warn that these could affect participants benefits and there is no check whatsoever on whether the organisations taking part are genuine.
The launch of the Workshop in a Box consultation was announced in the Timms Review June Co-chair update. It is open to any groups which wish to take part and involves downloading Workshop in a Box resources from the from the .gov.uk website.
The resources include slides, facilitator guidance, information sheets and an “About you” form to collect information on participants.
The Workshop in a Box has already been criticised by disabled people’s organisations (DPOs), as the Disability News Service has reported. Disability Wales has written to Timms to ask why DPOs appear to be expected to fund these workshop events themselves.
Vouchers for participants
The facilitators guidance actively encourages organisations to provide remuneration to attendees:
“Should I provide remuneration for attendees?
“Organisations are encouraged to recognise attendees’ time and contribution, for example through vouchers, refreshments or meals, or other appropriate forms of appreciation. There is no centrally administered provision for remuneration. Decisions on what is appropriate, and delivery of any such recognition, are at the discretion of the organisation running the session.”
However, payment for service user involvement is a fraught subject, with Disability Rights UK warning: “this is a complex area and it would be difficult to cover everyone’s individual circumstances. We strongly advise you to get expert advice about your own personal financial circumstances before accepting payment for your involvement.”
Many of those who are encouraged to take part in the workshops are likely to be in receipt of other benefits as well as PIP, yet there is no warning to facilitators that vouchers can be considered to be earnings by the DWP, may affect some benefits and that in some cases claimants may need to get permission from their work coach before participating.
Bogus responses
The response form which must be completed by organisations has 90 questions to be answered.
The first 9 questions ask for details such as the name of your group, what region you are active in, whether the workshop was online or in-person and whether participants were told how information collected would be used.
There are no questions that ask about the contact details of the organisation, the details of the person submitting the information or any other questions that would establish that the responses are genuine and that the group actually exists.
Only the last two questions ask if you would be willing to be contacted by the Timms review and if so, to give an email address, but this is entirely optional.
Whilst it is absolutely reasonable to allow individuals who respond to a consultation to be anonymous, it seems extraordinary that the review is collecting responses from organisations without any requirement that the organisation provides verifiable information that it isn’t bogus
Unguided summaries
The next 45 questions are monitoring issues, wanting to know about the number of participants who are of a given age, ethnicity, gender identity and so on.
There are then questions about how many participants said they were disabled, a carer, an adviser and so on.
It is not until question 66 that the response form seeks information about what people actually said about PIP.
Some of the questions require the organisers to give numbers for how many people
- Strongly disagree
- Disagree
- Do not agree or disagree
- Agree
- Strongly Agree
with statements such as “The PIP process is accessible”. The organisers then have to give a summary of the reasons participants gave for their answers.
Others require the organisers just to summarise the participants responses to questions such as:
“What do people use PIP for? Why is PIP important for them?”
“Are there parts of your life or circumstances that affect the extra costs of Disability? How do they affect how you use PIP?”
“What do you think PIP should help people to do?”
No guidance is given on how to summarise responses, only that “We do not require verbatim feedback from discussions and are asking for summaries that capture the conversation. You can however include some illustrative quotes if you would like to do so.”
This means that the summaries are highly subjective and do not necessarily capture all the views that were given.
In total, just 22 of the questions are dedicated to evidence about PIP itself, compared to 68 which are essentially admin questions.
Is it lawful?
The workshop resources were made available today, 8 June. All results must be submitted by 17 July. This gives organisations less than six weeks to organise workshops, invite participants, collate responses and submit them.
In the past, where government has consulted on legislation in a way that was unfair, courts have overturned that legislation. In general, three months has been seen as a reasonable time to allow people to respond to a consultation. Timms is not calling the “Workshop in a Box” a consultation, just as the extraordinarily complex “Call for evidence” was not called a consultation.
But it may be that if legislation is based on the results of the Timms review, a court may hold that these processes are, in reality, consultations and that they are manifestly unfair. It’s a very long shot indeed, but worth bearing in mind when what is looking increasingly like a rushed and rigged review finally reports.
