Asked by: Judith Cummins (Labour - Bradford South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to ensure that Personal Independence Payment assessment providers have awareness of Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Personal Independence Payment assessment providers (APs) are required to ensure that all health professionals (HP) carrying out assessments are experts in disability analysis, focusing on the effects of health conditions and impairments on the individual claimant's daily life
Whilst HPs do not receive specific training relating to Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, they have access to a range of resources as well as experienced clinicians who can support them in assessing individuals with conditions that they may not be familiar with. APs also engage with medical experts, charities, and relevant stakeholders to strengthen their training programmes.
In the Health & Disability White Paper, the department committed to developing the skills of HPs. As a result, the department began a proof of concept to match an individual's primary health condition to a HP who has professional experience in their condition. In addition to their professional experience, HPs will also take part in training to specialise in the functional impacts of specific health conditions.
Asked by: Judith Cummins (Labour - Bradford South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to support families' with childcare following changes to work related activity requirements for lead carers.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
From 28 June 2023, the DWP will now provide even more help with upfront childcare costs for parents on Universal Credit who wish to move into or progress in work.
At the same time, we have also increased the generosity of the Universal Credit childcare costs maximum amounts by nearly 50%.
These changes are part of a much wider package of generous childcare reforms including a phased introduction of 30 hours of free childcare for almost all working parents of children aged between nine months and three years of age.
Asked by: Judith Cummins (Labour - Bradford South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of (a) reinstating the Universal Credit uplift of £25 per week and (b) extending the uplift to cover Employment Support Allowance.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government has always been clear that the £20 increase was a temporary measure to support those households most economically affected by the economic shock of Covid-19. Since then, the Government has announced support to households to help with higher bills worth £94 billion across 2022-23 and 2023-24.
Asked by: Judith Cummins (Labour - Bradford South)
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 claiming personal independence payments had their award assessed through (a) a telephone consultation and (b) an in-person assessment in the last 12 months.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Please see the table below showing the number and proportion of all Personal Independence Payment (PIP) assessments (including new claims, award reviews and change of circumstance), that have been carried out by (a) telephone and (b) face-to-face for the period February 2022 to January 2023:
Channel | Feb 2022 - Jan 2023 |
Telephone | 661,620 (66.6% of all assessments) |
Face-to-face | 69,570 (7.0% of all assessments) |
Although not included in your question, we also conduct paper-based and video assessments, where appropriate, alongside telephone and face-to-face assessments as detailed below:
Channel | Feb 2022 - Jan 2023 |
Paper-based | 179,390 (18.1% of all assessments) |
Video | 69,140 (7.0% of all assessments) |
There were also 13,270 completed assessments (1.3%) for which we do not hold data.
Please note
Asked by: Judith Cummins (Labour - Bradford South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many claimants have had their Personal Independence Payments reduced in the last year following (a) a telephone consultation and (b) an in-person assessment.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Table (a) shows the number of claimants of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) who had an Award Review by telephone or in person between November 2021 and October 2022 who had their award decreased or disallowed.
Table (a) – claimants who had their award reduced at in-person or telephone assessment
| Volume |
In person | 1600 |
Telephone | 15400 |
Source: PIP Atomic Data Store (ADS)
Notes:
Asked by: Judith Cummins (Labour - Bradford South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when home assessments for Personal Independence Payments will resume in-person.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Home assessments for Personal Independence Payment (PIP) were resumed from 8 August 2022. Where other methods, such as paper-based, telephone, video, or face-to-face assessment in an assessment centre cannot be undertaken, a home assessment will be arranged.
Asked by: Judith Cummins (Labour - Bradford South)
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 potential merits of permitting Universal Credit claimants to receive their payments every two weeks rather than every month during increases in the cost of living.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
No such assessment has been made.
Asked by: Judith Cummins (Labour - Bradford South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment she has made of the performance of Personal Independence Payment assessment providers.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
The department closely monitors all aspects of the Personal Independence Payment (PIP) assessment process, including the performance of assessment providers. Provider performance is measured across a range of service level agreements setting out the department's expectations for service delivery, and they are held to account for their performance.
We work continuously with assessment providers to further improve the assessment process. PIP providers have recently introduced new management processes to drive performance across their service. This includes new or enhanced systems for assessing the quality of reports, and any advice the department receives.
Assessment providers always strive to provide an excellent service to our claimants and have consistently exceeded their customer satisfaction target of 90%.
Asked by: Judith Cummins (Labour - Bradford South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she plans to revise the assessment process for Personal Independence Payments to (a) increase accessibility and (b) ensure assessors are specifically trained to understand stroke outcomes.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
Assessment providers are required to ensure that all health professionals (HPs) carrying out Personal Independence Payment (PIP) assessments have training and knowledge of the clinical aspects and overall functional effects of a wide range of health conditions and impairments. This includes the disabling effects of strokes on a claimant’s life.
The department does not believe it is necessary for providers to allocate HPs to assessments based on whether they are specialists in the specific conditions or impairments of the claimants they are assessing. Instead, the focus is on ensuring that HPs are experts in disability analysis, with emphasis on the effects of health conditions and impairments on the claimant's daily life.
HPs can access a wide range of clinical resources to research any conditions presented. This includes evidence-based protocols, e-learning modules or case studies, as well as keeping knowledge up to date through Continuous Professional Development (CPD). Both PIP providers have a condition insight report on strokes and their effects on claimants’ lives.
The department is committed to improving our services and works continuously with providers to improve the assessment process. The Shaping Future Support: The Health and Disability Green Paper, explored how the welfare system can better meet the needs of claimants now and in the future. The aim is to improve claimant experience of our services, including accessibility, enabling independent living, and increasing employment outcomes. We are considering all the responses to the Green Paper proposals and what future policy changes might look like. These will be set out in the White Paper later this year.
Asked by: Judith Cummins (Labour - Bradford South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether Personal Independence Payment Assessors are allocated to assessments based on their medical experience and specific knowledge of relevant conditions.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
Assessment providers are required to ensure that all health professionals (HPs) carrying out Personal Independence Payment (PIP) assessments have training and knowledge of the clinical aspects and overall functional effects of a wide range of health conditions and impairments. This includes the disabling effects of strokes on a claimant’s life.
The department does not believe it is necessary for providers to allocate HPs to assessments based on whether they are specialists in the specific conditions or impairments of the claimants they are assessing. Instead, the focus is on ensuring that HPs are experts in disability analysis, with emphasis on the effects of health conditions and impairments on the claimant's daily life.
HPs can access a wide range of clinical resources to research any conditions presented. This includes evidence-based protocols, e-learning modules or case studies, as well as keeping knowledge up to date through Continuous Professional Development (CPD). Both PIP providers have a condition insight report on strokes and their effects on claimants’ lives.
The department is committed to improving our services and works continuously with providers to improve the assessment process. The Shaping Future Support: The Health and Disability Green Paper, explored how the welfare system can better meet the needs of claimants now and in the future. The aim is to improve claimant experience of our services, including accessibility, enabling independent living, and increasing employment outcomes. We are considering all the responses to the Green Paper proposals and what future policy changes might look like. These will be set out in the White Paper later this year.