US agency that exams eligibility for UK incapacity advantages pays £10m in dividends | Advantages

The British arm of a US contractor that earnings from testing whether or not some folks within the UK ought to obtain incapacity advantages has paid £10m in dividends to its buyers.

Maximus, a Virginia-based enterprise, reported a 23% rise in pre-tax revenue for its UK arm, from £23.6m to £29.1m, in its monetary yr to the tip of September, accounts lodged at Corporations Home present. Its income rose 2%, from £294m to £300m.

The corporate is the most important supplier of purposeful evaluation providers, or FAS, for the Division for Work and Pensions (DWP). These exams decide an individual’s stage of perform and talent to carry out on a regular basis duties.

The UK arm of the enterprise paid out £10m in dividends to buyers, equal to £10,000 per strange share, in keeping with accounts filed at Corporations Home. The corporate additionally paid out £10m in dividends to its buyers within the 2023 monetary yr.

Maximus secured a five-year contract from the federal government in 2023 to offer purposeful evaluation providers, at an estimated worth of £800m over the interval, with the choice to increase for an extra two years.

In a inexperienced paper revealed in March, the Division for Work and Pensions mentioned experiences of assessments for the private independence cost (Pip) had been “not at all times optimistic”.

The nationwide incapacity charity Sense mentioned “no one needs to be rewarded for treating disabled folks with disrespect”.

Tom Marsland, of the charity, mentioned: “Sense’s analysis discovered that half of disabled folks with complicated wants who’ve been by way of a advantages evaluation discovered it humiliating, and nearly half didn’t get the proper communication assist to correctly display why they want assist.

“These statistics are stunning and present a deep-rooted downside with the present evaluation course of.

“We wish to see the federal government introduce clear requirements to make sure advantages assessments are truthful and accessible for disabled folks, with nobody left feeling like a felony merely for attempting to entry the assist they want,” he mentioned. “There must also be monetary penalties for evaluation suppliers who fail to offer the proper communication assist and accessibility measures.”

The federal government plans to scale back eligibility for Pip and the well being element of common credit score. Because of this, official figures counsel 3.2 million folks might lose a mean of £1,720 a yr and 250,000 folks might be pushed into relative poverty.

Maximus UK is a part of a much bigger US organisation that’s listed in New York with a market worth of $4.2bn (£3.1bn). Shares within the enterprise, which additionally gives administration and providers for US programmes equivalent to Medicaid and Medicare, have dropped 12% up to now yr.

Bruce Caswell, the chief govt of Maximus, was paid a base wage of $886,904 in 2024, with inventory awards, incentive plans and different compensation taking his complete package deal to $10.2m.

A DWP spokesperson mentioned: “All Pip assessments are independently audited to make sure claimants are receiving the identical high-quality service, no matter which contractor conducts it.

“To assist this additional, contractors are appointed by way of an open, clear, and aggressive course of, and we monitor their efficiency intently and guarantee they persistently meet the usual required.”

Maximus declined to remark.