Personal Independence Payment

Thursday 25th February 2021 Written Statements

[The Minister for Disabled People, Health and Work (Justin Tomlinson)]

The Department has published the latest update on progress on making backdated payments to personal independence payment claimants who are affected by the MH and RJ decisions of the upper tribunal. The release is published at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/pip-administrative-exercise-progress-on-cases-cleared

The MH decision changed how overwhelming psychological distress is considered when assessing someone’s ability to plan and follow a journey. The RJ decision changed how we decide whether someone can carry out an activity safely and if they need supervision. We started the administrative exercise on 25 June 2018 and a frequently asked questions document is available in the Library of the House and at: http://data. parliament.uk/DepositedPapers/Files/DEP2020-0061/FAQ_-_Implementation_of_legal_decisions_MH_and_RJ.pdf

As at 17 January 2021, we have assessed 890,000 cases against the MH decision and 990,000 cases against the RJ decision. Around 6,600 arrears payments, totalling around £32 million, have been made.

It should be noted that in supporting the Government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, the exercise was paused from April to October 2020.

We will release a further update by the end of 2021.

[HCWS796]