Asked by: Danny Kruger (Conservative - East Wiltshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Green Paper entitled Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper, published on 18 March 2025, whether people with terminal illnesses will be affected by the new PIP eligibility threshold of four points in a single category.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Claimants of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) who are nearing the end of their life will be unaffected by the reforms to the PIP assessment criteria. Claims made under the special rules for end of life are automatically awarded the enhanced rate of the daily living component without having to take part in an assessment and without having to meet the required period condition. The majority of claimants are also awarded the mobility component.
Asked by: Danny Kruger (Conservative - East Wiltshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Green Paper entitled Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working, published on 18 March 2025, if she will make it her policy to publish an evaluation of the effectiveness of her proposed reforms once implemented in increasing long-term employment outcomes for disabled people.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We anticipate that we will assess effectiveness of Pathways to Work measures in the usual way, including through evaluation of their implementation and the impacts that they have on employment, incomes, benefit receipt and other indicators. We will publish more information on our evaluation strategy in due course.
Asked by: Danny Kruger (Conservative - East Wiltshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Green Paper entitled Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working, published on 18 March 2025, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of her proposed reforms on labour market participation by people with (a) disabilities and (b) long term health conditions.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Information on the impacts of the Pathways to Work Green Paper will be published in due course, with some information already published alongside the Spring Statement. A further programme of analysis to support development of the proposals in the Green Paper will be developed and undertaken in the coming months.
Asked by: Danny Kruger (Conservative - East Wiltshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Green Paper entitled Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working, published on 18 March 2025, whether people affected by changes to the Universal Credit health element will be able to appeal reassessments under the new system.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Decisions made by a decision maker on entitlement to benefit generally confer a right of appeal.
The outcome of any WCA will lead to a decision about the customer’s capability for work, which would have appeal rights. If the customer disagrees with that decision, they may request a Mandatory Reconsideration (MR) and can lodge an appeal if they remain dissatisfied following the MR process.
Asked by: Danny Kruger (Conservative - East Wiltshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Green Paper entitled Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working, published on 18 March 2025, whether her Department plans to provide additional training to assessors carrying out PIP assessments.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
All health professionals who carry out PIP assessments receive comprehensive training in disability analysis which includes evaluation as to how medical conditions affect claimants in their day-to-day activities, as well as awareness training in specific conditions. The department works extensively with assessment providers to make improvements to guidance, training and audit procedures to ensure a quality service. All core training and guidance material for health professionals undergoes both clinical and policy quality assurance.
On 18 March we announced our plans to introduce a new eligibility requirement in Personal Independence Payment (PIP) so that people must score a minimum of four points in one daily living activity in PIP to be eligible for the daily living component. All health professionals and DWP case managers will receive training and guidance on these changes to eligibility criteria before they are implemented.
Asked by: Danny Kruger (Conservative - East Wiltshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Green Paper entitled Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working, published on 18 March 2025, what proportion of PIP assessments she expects to be face-to-face.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department is committed to assessing people for Personal Independence Payment (PIP) as quickly as possible to ensure they receive the support they are entitled to in a timely manner. PIP assessments are currently carried out via a range of channels. As set out in the Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper, we are committed to doing more face-to-face assessments, while preserving alternative health assessment channels to meet the specific needs of people who require a different channel, for example as a reasonable adjustment.
Further details on this commitment, along with other measures designed to improve the PIP assessment are set out in the Green Paper. We will set out further detail of the proposals for reform of the health and disability system following a full 12-week consultation period where responses are fully considered.
Asked by: Danny Kruger (Conservative - East Wiltshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of abolishing the Work Capability Assessment.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Work Capability Assessment is not working and needs to be reformed or replaced. We are committed to reforming the system of health and disability benefits so that it promotes and enables employment among as many people as possible. The system must also work to support disabled people to live independently. It is also vital to ensure that the system is financially sustainable in the long term.
We are working to develop proposals for reform in the months ahead and will set them out in a Green Paper ahead of the Spring Statement later this year.
Asked by: Danny Kruger (Conservative - East Wiltshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she plans to accelerate the rollout of Universal Credit.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
I refer the Hon Member to the Statement of 12 November (Written statements - Written questions, answers and statements - UK Parliament)
Asked by: Danny Kruger (Conservative - East Wiltshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she plans to publish data collected from the fit note trailblazers.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
In 2024, the previous government announced fit note trailblazers to be included in some of the 15 WorkWell pilot areas across Integrated Care Boards in England.
Due to the timings of the General Election the trailblazers were not launched.
The learning from the Fit Note Trailblazers will be applied to three of the eight inactivity trailblazers that are NHSE led health and growth accelerators, where £45 million has been specifically allocated to three integrated care boards to improve population health outcomes and reduce health-related economic inactivity as part of the Get Britain Working Plans.
Asked by: Danny Kruger (Conservative - East Wiltshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what passport benefits of what average value a Pension Credit claimant may be eligible to receive.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
Pension Credit claimants can receive passported benefits such as:
- Winter Fuel Payment;
- Housing Benefit for those who rent the property they live in;
- support for Mortgage Interest for those who own the property they live in;
- a Council Tax discount for those in England and Wales;
- a free TV licence for those aged 75 or over;
- help with NHS dental treatment, glasses, and transport costs for hospital appointments;
- help with heating costs through the Warm Home Discount Scheme;
- a discount on the Royal Mail redirection service for those moving house.
Information on passported benefits is available at: Pension Credit: Overview - GOV.UK.
No estimate has been made of the average value of these benefits.