Asked by: Karen Lee (Labour - Lincoln)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the timeline is for launching a review into access to benefits for people that are terminally ill.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
On 11 July the Secretary of State launched an in depth evaluation of how the benefits system supports people nearing the end of their life and those with severe conditions.
The Department is taking this work forward as a priority and will be seeking input from a range of stakeholders including those who have first-hand experience of the special rules, whether clinicians or others supporting people applying for benefit, in due course.
Asked by: Karen Lee (Labour - Lincoln)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to increase the take-up of pension credit among people without internet access.
Answered by Guy Opperman
Pension Credit is an important benefit specifically intended to help the poorest pensioners. There are over 1.6m pensioners already claiming Pension Credit worth over £5billion a year. However, the Government wants to ensure that all pensioners eligible can claim the Pension Credit to which they are rightly entitled.
We also welcome and encourage initiatives to promote take up of Pension Credit by national and local organisations who may often be best placed to understand the local circumstances and needs in the community. For this reason we have developed the Pension Credit toolkit, as an on-line tool for agencies and welfare rights organisations to use in order to encourage Pension Credit take-up. It can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pension-credit-toolkit
The toolkit contains resources for anyone working with pensioners and includes guides to Pension Credit. It also contains publicity material and guidance designed to help older people understand how they could get Pension Credit and help organisations support someone applying for Pension Credit as well as ideas for encouraging take-up. The toolkit also provides links to information about disability and carers benefits.
Organisations can use the Pension Credit calculator https://www.gov.uk/pension-credit-calculator to help people check if they are likely to be eligible and get an estimate of what they may receive.
In addition, the DWP targets activity on engaging with people who may be eligible to benefits at pivotal stages, such as when they claim State Pension or report a change in their circumstances. The DWP uses a wide range of channels to communicate information about benefits to potential customers; including information on https://gov.uk/, but also in leaflets and by telephone. DWP staff in Pension Centres and Jobcentres including visiting officers are able to provide help and advice about entitlement to benefits, as are staff in Local Authorities who administer Housing Benefit.
In Lincoln there are just under 3,000 pensioners already claiming Pension Credit. The easiest way to make a claim is by telephone. People can telephone either the Pension Service helpline for general enquiries on 0800 731 0469 or those wishing to claim Pension Credit can do so by calling 0800 99 1234.
Asked by: Karen Lee (Labour - Lincoln)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average amount of unclaimed pension credit is per eligible claimant in the constituency of Lincoln in the most recent period for which figures are available.
Answered by Guy Opperman
The information requested on the number of potentially eligible claimants of pension credit who have not claimed the benefit and the average amount of unclaimed pension credit per eligible claimant in the constituency of Lincoln is not available at constituency level.
Official statistics on the take-up of income related benefits at Great Britain level, including pension credit, can be found in the ‘Income-related benefits: estimates of take-up 2016 to 2017’ publication.
Asked by: Karen Lee (Labour - Lincoln)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate she has made of the number of potentially eligible claimants of pension credit who have not claimed that benefit in the constituency of Lincoln in the most recent period for which figures are available.
Answered by Guy Opperman
The information requested on the number of potentially eligible claimants of pension credit who have not claimed the benefit and the average amount of unclaimed pension credit per eligible claimant in the constituency of Lincoln is not available at constituency level.
Official statistics on the take-up of income related benefits at Great Britain level, including pension credit, can be found in the ‘Income-related benefits: estimates of take-up 2016 to 2017’ publication.
Asked by: Karen Lee (Labour - Lincoln)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to engage with local organisations in Lincoln to increase the take-up of pension credit in that city.
Answered by Guy Opperman
Pension Credit is an important benefit specifically intended to help the poorest pensioners. There are over 1.6m pensioners already claiming Pension Credit worth over £5billion a year. However, the Government wants to ensure that all pensioners eligible can claim the Pension Credit to which they are rightly entitled.
We also welcome and encourage initiatives to promote take up of Pension Credit by national and local organisations who may often be best placed to understand the local circumstances and needs in the community. For this reason we have developed the Pension Credit toolkit, as an on-line tool for agencies and welfare rights organisations to use in order to encourage Pension Credit take-up. It can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pension-credit-toolkit
The toolkit contains resources for anyone working with pensioners and includes guides to Pension Credit. It also contains publicity material and guidance designed to help older people understand how they could get Pension Credit and help organisations support someone applying for Pension Credit as well as ideas for encouraging take-up. The toolkit also provides links to information about disability and carers benefits.
Organisations can use the Pension Credit calculator https://www.gov.uk/pension-credit-calculator to help people check if they are likely to be eligible and get an estimate of what they may receive.
In addition, the DWP targets activity on engaging with people who may be eligible to benefits at pivotal stages, such as when they claim State Pension or report a change in their circumstances. The DWP uses a wide range of channels to communicate information about benefits to potential customers; including information on https://gov.uk/, but also in leaflets and by telephone. DWP staff in Pension Centres and Jobcentres including visiting officers are able to provide help and advice about entitlement to benefits, as are staff in Local Authorities who administer Housing Benefit.
In Lincoln there are just under 3,000 pensioners already claiming Pension Credit. The easiest way to make a claim is by telephone. People can telephone either the Pension Service helpline for general enquiries on 0800 731 0469 or those wishing to claim Pension Credit can do so by calling 0800 99 1234.
Asked by: Karen Lee (Labour - Lincoln)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she plans to review the eligibility criteria for personal independence payment to enable all claimants living through terminal illness to receive automatically the enhanced rate of the daily living element of that benefit.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
The Government is committed to supporting the needs of terminally ill claimants and ensuring that benefit rules are applied sensitively.
The special rules applying to people who are terminally ill, including the reasonable expectation of death within 6-month rule, were first introduced in 1990 for Attendance Allowance following a recommendation from the Social Security Advisory Committee. The rules have been carried forward into a number of benefits and now apply across Attendance Allowance, Disability Living Allowance, Employment and Support Allowance, Personal Independence Payment and Universal Credit. The rules are also used elsewhere, for example the Early Access to Financial Assistance Scheme, administered by the Pension Protection Fund.
The Department has recently met with a range of stakeholders, including leading clinicians and charities, to discuss the current wording used in the benefit system around terminal illness and will soon be providing clinicians with updated guidance with the aim of improving their understanding of the special rules. This is part of our continuous improvement work to improve people’s experience of claiming benefits and to ensure the benefits are working effectively and meeting the needs of claimants both now and in the future.
Asked by: Karen Lee (Labour - Lincoln)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, from what date pensioners will no longer have to undertake regular personal independence payment reassessments.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
As announced, all Personal Independence Payment claimants of State Pension age and above will be placed on an ongoing award with a light touch review at 10 years, unless notified of a change of circumstance. We are working to implement this change as soon as possible and expect this to occur by late spring 2019.
Asked by: Karen Lee (Labour - Lincoln)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people with multiple sclerosis have made a new application for personal independence payments in each year since these payments were introduced; and how many of those people have received those payments in each nation of the UK.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
The latest available data on Personal Independence Payment (PIP) clearances split by geographical area within Great Britain (region), by type of clearance (i.e. whether the claim was awarded, disallowed or withdrawn) and by main disabling condition for both new claims and Disability Living Allowance (DLA) reassessment claims for each month from the introduction of PIP in April 2013 to the last available data in January 2019, can be found at https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/
Guidance on how to use Stat-Xplore can be found here: https://sw.stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/index.html
Please note that a PIP claimant’s disability is not recorded until they attend an assessment so the Department does not hold data on how many claimants with a particular condition made an application for PIP. Data on the number of registrations (applications) to PIP each month from April 2013 to January 2019 is available on Stat-Xplore.
Please note that the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) is only responsible for benefits in Great Britain. Social security benefits including PIP are a devolved matter in Northern Ireland and your questions regarding PIP in Northern Ireland should be directed at the Department of Communities in Northern Ireland who are responsible for PIP.
Asked by: Karen Lee (Labour - Lincoln)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people with multiple sclerosis in receipt of disability living allowance have been reassessed for personal independence payment in each year since those payments were introduced; and how many of those people have received those payments in each nation of the UK.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
The latest available data on Personal Independence Payment (PIP) clearances split by geographical area within Great Britain (region), by type of clearance (i.e. whether the claim was awarded, disallowed or withdrawn) and by main disabling condition for both new claims and Disability Living Allowance (DLA) reassessment claims for each month from the introduction of PIP in April 2013 to the last available data in January 2019, can be found at https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/
Guidance on how to use Stat-Xplore can be found here: https://sw.stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/index.html
Please note that a PIP claimant’s disability is not recorded until they attend an assessment so the Department does not hold data on how many claimants with a particular condition made an application for PIP. Data on the number of registrations (applications) to PIP each month from April 2013 to January 2019 is available on Stat-Xplore.
Please note that the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) is only responsible for benefits in Great Britain. Social security benefits including PIP are a devolved matter in Northern Ireland and your questions regarding PIP in Northern Ireland should be directed at the Department of Communities in Northern Ireland who are responsible for PIP.
Asked by: Karen Lee (Labour - Lincoln)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans her Department has in place to avoid unnecessary repeat assessments for benefit applicants with special needs.
Answered by Sarah Newton
Since September 2017, Employment and Support Allowance claimants who have the most severe/lifelong conditions and that meet the Severe Conditions Criteria are not required to attend further routine reassessments. Furthermore, in August 2018, we introduced updated guidance for Personal Independence Payment (PIP) case managers which will ensure that those who receive the highest level of support under PIP, and whose needs are unlikely to change or may get worse, will now receive an ongoing award with a light touch review at the ten year point.