Asked by: Roger Gale (Conservative - North Thanet)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what average length of time is taken by her Department to process the mandatory reconsideration of a personal independence payment claim.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
Statistics on the average clearance time for Mandatory Reconsiderations (MR) for Personal Independence Payment (PIP) can be found in the data tables of the quarterly statistical publication ‘Personal Independence Payment: Official Statistics to July 2020” published by the Department for Work and Pensions and available here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/personal-independence-payment-april-2013-to-july-2020
Figures for Great Britain can be found in Table 4A by month the Mandatory Reconsideration (MR) was cleared in calendar days.
Asked by: Roger Gale (Conservative - North Thanet)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she has made an estimate of the number of job vacancies that will be created in the event that the WASPI generation of women are permitted to retire immediately and on full pension.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
No such estimate has been made.
Asked by: Roger Gale (Conservative - North Thanet)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what reasons not all UK pensioners living overseas receive annual pension uprating.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Since WW2 successive Governments, Labour, the Coalition and Conservatives have had the same policy. The policy on up-rating the UK State Pension abroad is long-standing and unchanged. UK State Pensions are payable worldwide and they are up-rated for overseas residents where there is a legal requirement to do so.
The cost of up-rating State Pensions would increase by more than £3 billion over five years if payments to recipients in countries where they are not currently up-rated were increased to the rates payable had the recipients never left the UK. It is not proposed to change this policy.
Asked by: Roger Gale (Conservative - North Thanet)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, on what basis the French Southern and Antarctic Lands, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Saint Barthélemy, French Polynesia, Wallis and Futuna and New Caledonia are excluded from his calculations for the purposes of establishing the average mean winter temperature for France in connection with winter fuel payments.
Answered by Steve Webb
The French Government and European Union law makes a distinction between the pays et territoires d’outre-mer (PTOM) and the départements d’outre mer (DOMs). The PTOM include Saint-Pierre and Miquelon, Saint Barthélémy, French Polynesia, Wallis and Futuna and New Caledonia. These territories benefit from association with the EU but community law does not generally apply. With the exception of Saint- Barthélémy they have their own social protection schemes and are legally and financially autonomous. UK Winter Fuel Payments are not paid to residents in the PTOMs.
The French Government treats its DOMs as integral parts of the French State and they are subject to the application of EU social security co-ordination regulations. Winter Fuel Payments are payable to residents in the DOMs, however this will end from September 2015.
Asked by: Roger Gale (Conservative - North Thanet)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether a conclusion has been reached on infringement proceedings generated by the European Commission against the Government of the United Kingdom, with regard to the application of the 'Past Presence' test for disability benefit purposes as it affects ex-patriate citizens of the United Kingdom now resident in other EU member states; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Mark Harper - Secretary of State for Transport
There has been no formal conclusion to the infringement proceedings brought by the European Commission against the Government of the UK with regard to the application of the ‘Past Presence Test’ for certain disability benefits.
Asked by: Roger Gale (Conservative - North Thanet)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the number of cases awaiting individual assessments by Atos; what estimate he has made of the waiting time between personal independence payment (PIP) claims, assessment and awards being made; and what estimate he has made of the amount due in PIP awards that is outstanding.
Answered by Mark Harper - Secretary of State for Transport
Information on the number of cases awaiting individual assessments is not routinely supplied and is not published data.
Departmental statisticians are continuing to develop measures around clearance times and waiting times to ensure they provide a rounded and representative picture of Personal Independence Payment system performance, improvement activity and the claimants’ experience. These statistics will be published as soon as they are ready, with the release pre-announced in line with United Kingdom Statistics Authority release protocols
No estimate has been made of the amount due in PIP awards that is outstanding as each claim must be individually assessed before entitlement can be determined.