More than half of fitness to work assessments have resulted in a claimant being considered capable of doing a job, Tynwald was told.
But Treasury Minister Eddie Teare MHK insisted the feedback from claimants had been very positive.
It was announced last September that UK-based Dependability Ltd had been appointed to carry out person capability assessments for an estimated 3,000 long-term incapacity benefit claimants over the next three years.
Tynwald this week was told that, as at the end of September, 200 out of 391 assessments had resulted in a claimant being considered capable of work. Some 41 had ‘dropped out of the system’ before they were assessed.
Mr Teare was asked by Lib Van leader Kate Beecroft (Douglas South) to make a statement on Dependability’s performance.
He said: ‘Treasury is pleased with Dependability’s performance to date and there are no concerns going forward.
‘My officers are working hard with managers at Dependability to ensure the assessment process is as efficient as possible and that claimants who are called for assessment are not put under undue stress. Indeed the feedback my officers have received from claimants who have had face-to-face assessment with a healthcare professional from Dependability has been very positive about the manner in which their assessment was conducted.’
Dependability, which was awarded the contract following a tendering exercise, will be paid a total of £750,000 for its services.
A previous pilot scheme carried out by the then Department of Social Care in 2012-13 looked at the cases of 202 claimants, of which a third stopped claiming before they were assessed. One third was found to be incapable of work and the other third had their incapacity benefits stopped as they were deemed to be capable of some form of work.
But the tick-box methods used by Atos, the company that carried out the pilot, came in for some criticism.
Leonard Singer (Ramsey) asked if Dependability’s results were similar to Atos’s. Mr Teare said that the feedback had been much more positive. He added: ‘I’m not being complacent here.’
He said it was vitally important that claimants were receiving the correct benefits. ‘No one who can work should be consigned to a life on sickness benefits and instead receive the specialist help they need to return to work,’ he said.
Mr Teare said claimants had a right to have their assessment reconsidered and to take an appeal to tribunal. Out of the 200 assessments considered capable of work, five had been reversed on reconsideration and one on appeal.