Asked by: Bayo Alaba (Labour - Southend East and Rochford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the Independent review of the Personal Independence Payment assessment Timms Review will consider how the Personal Independence Payment assessment could be improved for people who are (a) living with a terminal illness and (b) not able to claim under the Special Rules for End of Life.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government is committed to ensuring we have a system that supports disabled people and those with long-term health conditions, including people at end of life.
The Timms Review aims to ensure that Personal Independence Payment (PIP) is fair and fit for the future. The Review will be co-produced with disabled people, the organisations that represent them and other experts, meaning the Government will share ownership and responsibility for how the Review runs and what it recommends. It will therefore be for the Review’s leadership group – building from the Terms of Reference – to set its strategic direction, priorities and workplan. We will not seek to make further changes to PIP eligibility until the Review has reported its findings.
The Department supports people nearing the end of life through special benefit rules – called the Special Rules for End of Life (SREL). These enable people who are nearing the end of their lives to get faster, easier access to certain benefits, without needing to attend a medical assessment, serve waiting periods and in most cases, receive the highest rate of benefit. The current rules were updated in 2022/23 following a comprehensive review. The Government is not currently considering a further review of SREL policy but remains committed to maintaining fast-tracked access and is actively exploring ways to improve the delivery of the current system.
Asked by: Bayo Alaba (Labour - Southend East and Rochford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will ask the Timms Review to establish a collaboration committee to consider how the Personal Independence Payment assessment can be improved for people living with terminal illnesses not able to claim under the Special Rules for End of Life.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government is committed to ensuring we have a system that supports disabled people and those with long-term health conditions, including people at end of life.
The Timms Review aims to ensure that Personal Independence Payment (PIP) is fair and fit for the future. The Review will be co-produced with disabled people, the organisations that represent them and other experts, meaning the Government will share ownership and responsibility for how the Review runs and what it recommends. It will therefore be for the Review’s leadership group – building from the Terms of Reference – to set its strategic direction, priorities and workplan. We will not seek to make further changes to PIP eligibility until the Review has reported its findings.
The Department supports people nearing the end of life through special benefit rules – called the Special Rules for End of Life (SREL). These enable people who are nearing the end of their lives to get faster, easier access to certain benefits, without needing to attend a medical assessment, serve waiting periods and in most cases, receive the highest rate of benefit. The current rules were updated in 2022/23 following a comprehensive review. The Government is not currently considering a further review of SREL policy but remains committed to maintaining fast-tracked access and is actively exploring ways to improve the delivery of the current system.
Asked by: Bayo Alaba (Labour - Southend East and Rochford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of expanding Special Rules to all residents with a terminal illness diagnosis.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department supports people nearing the end of life through special benefit rules – called the Special Rules for End of Life (‘Special Rules’). For many years, the Special Rules applied to people who have 6 months or less to live, they now apply to people who have 12 months or less to live.
This definition is set out in the Social Security (Special Rules for End of Life) Bill 2022 passed under the last Government.
This Government has no current plans to extend the Special Rules eligibility criteria beyond 12 months. The 12-month criteria aligns with the definition of end of life used across the NHS
The Department recognises that determining an end-of-life prognosis is challenging. The current definition in legislation is clear; it applies where there is a reasonable expectation that death in consequence of a progressive disease is expected in the next 12-months. We support this in our guidance for clinicians, where we ask clinicians to consider: “their patient’s ‘estimated prognosis’ and whether it would not come as a surprise if their patient were to die in the next 12 months.”