The Minister for Disabled People, Health and Work (Sarah Newton)
I am pleased to inform the House that two review exercises will begin today. One with regard to the MH and RJ judgments and one for claimants whose main disabling condition is haemarthropathy. The first payments will be made in late summer.
The Secretary of State made a commitment to keep the House updated on MH. This statement is fulfilling that commitment and is the third update so far.
On 21 December 2017 the High Court handed down its judgment in the judicial review challenge against regulation 2(4) of the Social Security (Personal Independence Payment) (Amendment) Regulations 2017 S.l. 2017/194. This regulation reversed the effect of the upper tribunal decision in MH. This decision broadened the interpretation about how symptoms of overwhelming psychological distress should be assessed for the purpose of mobility activity 1 in PIP.
The Secretary of State informed the House on 19 January 2018 that after careful consideration she would not be appealing the High Court judgment, in order to provide certainty to claimants. Since then the Department has been working at pace and taking the necessary steps required to implement the decision in MH.
I am pleased to tell the House that this work is now complete and I have today published the new guidance required in order to implement the change. The guidance can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/personal-independence-payment-assessment-guide-for-assessment-providers
On 2 November 2017 the Department published updated guidance following an upper tribunal judgment on RJ that was handed down on 9 March 2017 on how the Department considers a claimant to be carrying out an activity safely and whether they need supervision to do so. The review exercise will now also look back at PIP claims to consider whether an increase in entitlement should be awarded as a result of RJ.
In addition, the Department is also beginning a review of approximately 420 PIP cases where the main disabling condition is haemophilia to identify and review claimants with haemarthropathy, following feedback from external stakeholders that the functional needs of claimants with haemarthropathy were not being adequately assessed. We expect this exercise to be completed in six weeks.
I will continue to update the House.
[HCWS793]