Asked by: Ellie Chowns (Green Party - North Herefordshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 12 June 2025 to Question 57896 on Funeral Payments, how many applicants (a) responsible for funeral costs and (b) in receipt of a qualifying benefit did not receive a social fund funeral expenses payment because (i) there was an immediate family member or (ii) a close relative of the deceased who was not in receipt of a qualifying benefit, in each of the last five years.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The information requested is not held centrally and to provide it would incur a disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Ellie Chowns (Green Party - North Herefordshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, where an application for a Social Fund Funeral Expenses Payment is refused because another family member of the person who died is not in receipt of a qualifying benefit, what assessment her Department makes of that person’s (a) ability and (b) willingness to take responsibility for the funeral costs.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The eligibility criteria for Funeral Expenses Payments are designed to ensure the scheme is fair for taxpayers while supporting the most vulnerable with these costs.
The Funeral Expenses Payment regulations provide for those cases where there is more than one person who could be responsible for a funeral. Where one of these individuals is not in receipt of a qualifying benefit, the Department does not provide a Funeral Expenses Payment.
We do not assess the ability or willingness of this individual to take responsibility for the funeral.
If there is no one able or willing to pay for the funeral, Local Authorities can arrange a public health funeral.
Asked by: Ellie Chowns (Green Party - North Herefordshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how people who are responsible for funeral costs and in receipt of a qualifying benefit have an application for a Social Fund Funeral Expenses Payment refused because of the family tests in the eligibility criteria in each of the last five years.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
Table 1 shows the number of applicants responsible for funeral cost who were receipt of qualifying benefits but were refused a Funeral Expenses Payment due to the family test reasons below:
Table 1: Funeral Expense Payments- Refusals linked to the Family Test
| 2020/21 | 2021/22 | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
Number of Refusals | 1,100 | 900 | 1,200 | 1,200 | 1,000 |
Notes:
- These figures have been estimated using unaudited internal DWP Management Information which is not quality assured to the same extent as Official / National statistics.
- These applicants are assumed to have been responsible for funeral costs and to have been in receipt of a qualifying benefit.
- Figures have been rounded to the nearest 100.
Asked by: Ellie Chowns (Green Party - North Herefordshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many applicants who were (a) responsible for funeral costs and (b) in receipt of a qualifying benefit were denied a Social Fund Funeral Expenses Payment because of the family tests in the eligibility criteria in each of the last five years.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
Table 1 shows the number of applicants who were refused a Funeral Expenses Payment for the below reasons:
Table 1: Funeral Expense Payments- Refusals linked to the Family Test
| 2020/21 | 2021/22 | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
Number of Refusals | 1,100 | 900 | 1,200 | 1,200 | 1,000 |
Notes:
- These figures have been estimated using unaudited internal DWP Management Information which is not quality assured to the same extent as Official / National statistics.
- These applicants are assumed to have been responsible for funeral costs and to have been in receipt of a qualifying benefit.
- Figures have been rounded to the nearest 100.
Asked by: Ellie Chowns (Green Party - North Herefordshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 6 May 2025 to Question 49218 on Social Security Benefits: Medical Examinations, whether her Department plans to (a) make an assessment of the potential merits of exploring more tailored mechanisms to reduce the frequency of assessments for people with (i) Myalgic Encephalomyelitis and (ii) other clearly documented, severe and long-term health conditions where improvement is unlikely and (b) involve (A) people with lived experience and (B) relevant charities in the (1) development and (2) implementation of such mechanisms.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
As stated in our response to Question 49218, we are not planning to exempt specific conditions, but we are planning to reduce reassessments for those with the most severe conditions.
We aim to do this in Universal Credit through guaranteeing that for both new and existing claims, those with the most severe, life-long health conditions, who will never be able to work, will not need to be reassessed in the future. In PIP, we are exploring ways we could use evidence from other services to reduce the need for some people with very severe conditions to undergo a full functional assessment.
In the Green Paper, we also promised to review the PIP assessment to make sure that it is fit for the future. I shall lead the review in close consultation with disabled people, disabled people’s organisations, and other experts. To get this right, I am bringing together stakeholders to agree the scope and timing of the review. I will then publish Terms of Reference for the review in due course.
Asked by: Ellie Chowns (Green Party - North Herefordshire)
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 an assessment of the potential impact of the four-point minimum eligibility threshold on the ability of people with (a) fluctuating illnesses and (b) Myalgic Encephalomyelitis to claim PIP.
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, and some information was published alongside the Spring Statement. These publications can be found in ‘Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper’(opens in a new tab).
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: Ellie Chowns (Green Party - North Herefordshire)
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 impact of the proposed changes to disability benefits set out in the (a) Green Paper entitled Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working, published on 18 March 2025 and (b) report entitled Spring Statement 2025 health and disability benefit reforms - Impacts, published on 26 March 2025 on demand for (i) NHS and (ii) adult social-care services.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
No assessment has been made.
Information on the impacts of the Pathways to Work Green Paper will be published in due course, and some information was published alongside the Spring Statement. These publications can be found in ‘Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper’(opens in a new tab).
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: Ellie Chowns (Green Party - North Herefordshire)
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, if she will take steps to prevent people with (a) lifelong and severely disabling illnesses and (b) Myalgic Encephalomyelitis from having to undergo repeated reassessments.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Our wide-ranging package of reforms to health and disability benefits, set out in the Pathways to Work Green Paper, will improve experiences of the system for those who need it. The functional impact and severity of a condition can significantly vary across individuals, so we are not planning to exempt specific conditions, but we are planning to reduce reassessments for those with the most severe conditions.
We aim to guarantee that for both new and existing Universal Credit claims, those with the most severe, life-long health conditions, who will never be able to work, will not need to be reassessed in the future. Our plans to improve experiences of Personal Independence Payment also include reducing assessments for this group. We are exploring ways we could use evidence from eligibility for other services to reduce the need for some people with very severe health conditions and disabilities to undergo a full PIP functional assessment.
Asked by: Ellie Chowns (Green Party - North Herefordshire)
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 criteria she plans to use to identify claimants with serious and lifelong health conditions to ensure they will never face reassessment.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The assessment process is an important part of claiming PIP and WCA to ensure that people receive the right level of support.
However, for some people with very severe health conditions and disabilities, by the time they come to make a claim, they have already undergone intensive assessments and provided detailed evidence about their condition to receive support from other services. That is why in PIP, we are also exploring ways in which we could use evidence from eligibility for other services to reduce the need for some people with very severe health conditions to undergo a full PIP functional assessment. For example, for young people with very severe long-term conditions who have already been assessed for and awarded support from Disability Living Allowance for children before claiming PIP for the first time.
For those on UC with the most severe, life-long, conditions who we know will never be able to work, we will aim to exempt them from ever needing to be reassessed.
Asked by: Ellie Chowns (Green Party - North Herefordshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to reduce the time taken to reach decisions on Attendance Allowance applications.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
Attendance Allowance is currently undergoing a significant modernisation through the piloting of an online digital claim process. We are using customer feedback to design a transformed application that is shorter and easier, which focuses on collecting only the information we need to make a decision. This pilot will also support decision makers to handle claims more quickly with a significant reduction in requests for further information from customers.