Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he has undertaken a costings exercise on introducing an assessment rate for personal independence payments claimants during the appeals process.

No assessment or costings exercise has been made in relation to introducing an assessment rate for Personal Independence Payment (PIP) during the appeal process. As for other decisions in law, a PIP decision persists until such time as an appeal against the decision is concluded. As PIP can be paid at one of eight different rates this means that those appealing against a successful award continue to be paid the level of PIP awarded by the Secretary of State during the appeal process.