Asked by: Elsie Blundell (Labour - Heywood and Middleton North)
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 waiting times for recipients of Personal Independence Payment to speak to an advisor over the telephone.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Prior to January 2025, wait times on the Personal Independence Payment (PIP) enquiry lines were stable and consistent.
We have seen some disruption impacting the PIP telephony service during January 2025, due to technical issues, and whilst customers calling the new claims enquiry line will have seen calls continue to be answered in an average time of 5 minutes, call wait times on the general PIP enquiry line increased to just over 36 minutes.
To address the issue, which has also resulted in a high volume of repeat calls, additional resource has been deployed to the PIP general enquiry line, and we are now starting to see some recovery. Wait times last week had reduced to an average of 28 minutes, and we expect this to improve further over the next couple of weeks.
Asked by: Elsie Blundell (Labour - Heywood and Middleton North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps are being taken to expedite responses to claimants with (a) terminal cancer and (b) other life-limiting conditions.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The primary way the Department supports people nearing the end of life is through special benefit rules which are known as 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 or serve waiting periods and in most cases, receive the highest rate of benefit.
For many years, the Special Rules applied to people who have 6 months or less to live, they have now been changed so they apply to people who have 12 months or less to live. Changes to the Special Rules mean that thousands of people nearing the end of life are now able to claim fast-tracked financial support from the benefits system six months earlier than they were able to previously.
The Department is committed to processing all benefit claims as quickly as possible. For PIP, Special Rules claims in England and Wales currently take 3 working days to clear for new claims and 2 working days for a reassessment on average – this compares to the current average end-to-end claim process for new normal rules PIP claims of 14 weeks.
Asked by: Elsie Blundell (Labour - Heywood and Middleton North)
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 it takes for Personal Independence (a) claims and (b) re-applications to be processed by her Department.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Managing customer journey times for PIP claimants is a priority for the department and we are working constantly to improve our service.
Our aim is to make an award decision as quickly as possible, taking into account the need to review all the available evidence including that from the claimant.
However, we have been seeing continuing high levels of new claims which has impacted our capacity to carry out award reviews as quickly as we would like.
In order to deal with this demand, we have been prioritising new claims, to ensure new claimants are paid as soon as possible whilst safeguarding claimants awaiting award reviews, who have returned their information as required, to ensure their payments continue until their review can be completed.
Asked by: Elsie Blundell (Labour - Heywood and Middleton North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to help reduce the number of deaths associated with asbestos-related diseases.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is tackling Great Britain’s asbestos legacy using a variety of regulatory interventions, including licencing of removal contractors and inspection of the management of asbestos in situ, stakeholder engagement and research activities. Collectively, this supports duty holders and other stakeholders to manage asbestos safely to avoid further exposure to risk and work towards an asbestos-free built environment, in compliance with the stringent controls on working with asbestos introduced several decades ago.
The government recognises the devastating impact on those who have asbestos related disease and their families. We know that we need to do more. As part of this, HSE inspectors consider management of asbestos at every inspection of premises where asbestos may be present, they are holding an Asbestos Research Summit in March 2025 which will bring together technical experts and stakeholders to look at our strategic research priorities for asbestos and they are developing proposals to strengthen the existing legislative framework and intend to consult on this within the next financial year. We are also actively considering recommendations made by the Work and Pensions Select Committee to bring about a long term solution to Great Britain’s asbestos legacy.
Asked by: Elsie Blundell (Labour - Heywood and Middleton North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to help ensure that people claiming benefits have all the information required to access their entitlement.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) provides information on eligibility and how to make a claim for benefits, including signposting to telephony routes (including textphone and Relay UK) for people who are unable to complete forms online. There are videos on the DWP YouTube channel that provide further information on a range of benefits including Personal Independence Payment, Universal Credit, Winter Fuel Payment, Pension Credit and DLA for Children and these explain how to claim and what to expect once a claim has been made.
Guidance on GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) also includes information on benefits people may be able to claim and other financial support. This includes housing support, help with council tax and direct payments for social care. Where appropriate DWP letters include signposting to additional help and support.