Asked by: Heidi Allen (Liberal Democrat - South Cambridgeshire)
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 backdating universal credit payments to reduce the five week wait for a first payment.
Answered by Will Quince
Universal Credit new claim advances provide access to a payment for those in financial need, which can be accessed urgently, until their first regular Universal Credit payment is due. Claimants can access up to 100% of the total expected monthly award, which they can pay back over a period of up to 12 months. We have announced that from October 2021, the repayment period for these advances will be extended further, to 16 months.
The Department has delivered a number of improvements to support claimants during their first assessment period, such as removing waiting days and paying those claimants moving from Housing Benefit onto Universal Credit a two week ‘transitional housing payment’. We are also introducing a two-week run on for eligible claimants of Income Support, Jobseeker’s Allowance and Employment and Support Allowance from July 2020.
Claims may be backdated, by up to one calendar month, in limited circumstances for vulnerable claimants who may be delayed in claiming Universal Credit through no fault of their own. Claims may also be backdated in specific circumstances when a couple separates to ensure that there is no gap in entitlement between the couple claim and the new claim made by a single claimant.
Asked by: Heidi Allen (Liberal Democrat - South Cambridgeshire)
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 establishing an independent commission to review the value of benefits to ensure they consistently match the cost of living.
Answered by Will Quince
The Secretary of State has a statutory duty to complete an annual review of benefit and pension rates to determine whether they have retained their value in relation to either prices or earnings.
If there has been an increase in prices or earnings she must increase certain benefits by at least the increase in prices or earnings, using ONS data. For other benefits she may take into account the prevailing economic conditions and other relevant factors.
Whilst organisations external to Government are free to make representations to the Secretary of State, the Department has made no assessment around the introduction of an independent commission to review the value of benefits.
Asked by: Heidi Allen (Liberal Democrat - South Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of universal credit payments were subject to a deduction for child maintenance arrears.
Answered by Will Quince
For eligible Universal Credit claims with a payment due in May 2019 (the latest month of available data) 0.6% [11,000 claims] had a deduction for child maintenance arrears.
Notes
- Number of claims rounded to nearest 1000.
- Percentage rounded to nearest 0.1%
Asked by: Heidi Allen (Liberal Democrat - South Cambridgeshire)
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 effect of the working age benefit freeze on the household incomes of people with (a) disabilities and (b) long term health conditions.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
An Impact Assessment of the benefit freeze was published in 2015, this is available in the link below.
https://www.parliament.uk/documents/impact-assessments/IA15-006C.pdf
This benefit freeze excluded Disability Living Allowance, Personal Independence Payment, Attendance Allowance, the Support Group component of Employment and Support Allowance (for those not expected to look for work), disability premia in working-age benefits and the disabled elements of tax credits. This provides protection for those facing the additional cost of disability and long term health conditions.
Asked by: Heidi Allen (Liberal Democrat - South Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, in reference to research published by the MS Society in March 2019, whether her Department has plans to undertake a review the effect of the introduction of the 20-metre rule for personal independence payment on costs to other Departments.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
The enhanced rate of the Personal Independence Payment (PIP) Mobility component was always intended to be for those "unable" or "virtually unable" to walk.
We believe the current PIP assessment criteria, including the 20 metres distance, are the best way of identifying those whose physical mobility is most limited.
Senior Officials are in contact with the MS Society and will be meeting them in the coming weeks to discuss the latest research.
Asked by: Heidi Allen (Liberal Democrat - South Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate her Department has made of the number of disabled people who have had to leave work as a result of receiving lower rates of support from personal independence payment in comparison to disability living allowance.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
No such estimate has been made. Personal Independence Payment (PIP) can be paid to disabled people irrespective of their employment status and, as such, no details of an individual’s employment status are gathered during the course of their claim or award.
PIP is a more modern, dynamic and fairer benefit than its predecessor, Disability Living Allowance (DLA) and focuses support on those experiencing the greatest barriers to living independently. 31% of people claiming PIP receive the highest level of support, compared to 15% of DLA’s working-age claimants and 39% of reassessment claimants are getting a higher award on PIP compared to when they were on DLA.
People with a health condition or disability, who require additional support getting to and from work, can apply for an Access to Work grant.
Asked by: Heidi Allen (Liberal Democrat - South Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he has made an assessment of the effect of the introduction of the 20-metre rule on the level of people's eligibility for personal independence payment compared with previous levels of eligibility for disability living allowance.
Answered by Sarah Newton
The development of the Personal Independence Payment (PIP) assessment has been carried out in an iterative, transparent and consultative manner. It was developed in collaboration with a wide range of experts and through comprehensive public consultation.
The consultation process confirmed there is no consensus across the health and social care community of the perfect measure of mobility and there is no evidence for one particular distance.
The 20 metre distance was introduced in PIP to distinguish those whose mobility is significantly more limited than others and who face even greater barriers on a day to day basis – those who have the highest need.
There are 104,000 PIP claimants receiving the enhanced rate of mobility who previously were not awarded the higher rate mobility in Disability Living Allowance in the period April 2013 to October 2017.
Asked by: Heidi Allen (Liberal Democrat - South Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the evidential basis was for the introduction of the 20-metre rule as a criterion for mobility in the personal independence payment assessment procedure.
Answered by Sarah Newton
The development of the Personal Independence Payment (PIP) assessment has been carried out in an iterative, transparent and consultative manner. It was developed in collaboration with a wide range of experts and through comprehensive public consultation.
The consultation process confirmed there is no consensus across the health and social care community of the perfect measure of mobility and there is no evidence for one particular distance.
The 20 metre distance was introduced in PIP to distinguish those whose mobility is significantly more limited than others and who face even greater barriers on a day to day basis – those who have the highest need.
There are 104,000 PIP claimants receiving the enhanced rate of mobility who previously were not awarded the higher rate mobility in Disability Living Allowance in the period April 2013 to October 2017.
Asked by: Heidi Allen (Liberal Democrat - South Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of people with multiple sclerosis are no longer eligible for the higher rate of mobility support as a result of the transition from disability living allowance to personal independence payment since the roll-out of personal independence payment.
Answered by Sarah Newton
The table below shows the level of mobility award claimants with Multiple Sclerosis received under Disability Living Allowance (DLA) and their level of mobility award following reassessment to Personal Independence Payment (PIP).
Table: DLA to PIP Reassessment outcomes for claimants with Multiple Sclerosis
| Outcome Following Reassessment to PIP |
| ||
Award Received Under DLA | Enhanced Rate of Mobility | Standard Rate of Mobility | No Mobility Award | Total |
Higher Rate Mobility Component | 13,900(73%) | 3,100(16%) | 2,100(11%) | 19,100 |
Source: PIP Computer System claimant records and DLA Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study claimant data (1st October 2013 to 31st October 2017)
Notes:
1. PIP Reassessment outcome shows the outcome of the first DWP decision on each reassessment claim (i.e. they reflect outcomes prior to any reconsideration appeal action and award review), where that decision was made between 1st October 2013 and 31st October 2017.
2. For each individual who has a PIP reassessment outcome their PIP entitlement has been compared to their DLA entitlement at the time of their PIP reassessment registration.
3. Main disabling condition used is the disability recorded on the DLA administrative system for each individual. This is used because disability information is recorded on the PIP computer systems only for the group of cases who have a PIP assessment report.
4. Claimants may often have multiple disabling conditions upon which their entitlement decision is based but only the primary condition is shown in these statistics. It is possible that a reassessment claim could have a different main disabling condition recorded on the DLA and PIP systems.
5. Figures include reassessment outcomes for individuals who were aged between 16 and 64 on 8th April 2013, and include both PIP Normal Rules and Special Rules for the Terminally Ill claims.
6. Figures exclude claimants who failed to attend their assessment, were disallowed pre-referral or who withdrew their case.
7. The breakdown of data provided is unpublished data. It should be used with caution and it may be subject to future revision.
8. Figures have been rounded to the nearest 10.
9. Totals may not sum due to rounding.
10. Table percentages are given as row percentages.
11. Great Britain only.
Asked by: Heidi Allen (Liberal Democrat - South Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of claimants have received each length of personal independence payment award since its introduction.
Answered by Sarah Newton
The table below shows the number of people who have been awarded Personal Independence Payment (PIP) for each award length between April 2013 and 30th April 2018.
Table: PIP awards made between April 2013 and 30th April 2018, split by award length.
Type of award | Volume of claimants | Volume as a percentage of total |
Ongoing Awards | 323,210 | 18.1% |
Finite Awards | 1,458,250 | 81.8% |
Of which: |
|
|
1.5 years or lower | 346,650 | 23.8% |
1.5 – 2.5 years | 496,260 | 34.0% |
2.5 – 3.5 years | 364,450 | 25.0% |
3.5 – 4.5 years | 92,390 | 6.3% |
4.5 – 5.5 years | 132,630 | 9.1% |
5.5 – 6.5 years | 960 | 0.1% |
6.5 – 7.5 years | 190 | 0.0% |
7.5 – 8.5 years | 950 | 0.1% |
8.5 – 9.5 years | 710 | 0.0% |
9.5 years or more* | 11,720 | 0.8% |
Short term award | 11,330 | 0.8% |
Total Awards | 1,781,470 | 100% |
*The “9.5 years or more” group excludes ongoing awards. Source: PIP ADS
Award lengths are calculated from the date of award of PIP to the review date. At the point of preparing this response, approximately 0.06% of all cleared claims do not have a recorded review date but are not ongoing awards so have been excluded from the table above.
Figures are based on the first outcome recorded for each case and include both new claims and DLA reassessment claims assessed under normal rules. Special rules cases for the terminally ill are excluded from the above figures. Data has been rounded to the nearest 10 cases. This is unpublished data which should be used with caution and it may be subject to future revision.
A claimant can receive a short term fixed award if their condition is expected to improve in the short term. Once this award ends, the benefit ends and no award review takes place.
Ongoing awards do not have an end date, but will be subject to a light touch review at the 10 year point. We are currently amending the guidance to ensure that all those awarded the highest level of support under PIP, and who have needs which will stay the same or deteriorate, will receive and ongoing award with a light touch review at the 10 year point. The new guidance will be published later this summer.