Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Written Statement of 2 November 2017, HCSW218, what additional training and support will be made available to personal independence payment (PIP) assessors and other relevant healthcare professionals in light of the updated PIP assessment guidelines.

The Department has engaged closely with the PIP Assessment Providers to ensure that the impact of the Upper Tribunal ruling has been fully understood. Both Assessment Providers have enhanced their existing training packages to ensure that when Health Professionals are assessing whether a person can carry out an activity safely, they also consider both the likelihood of the harm occurring and the severity and nature of the harm that might occur. This same approach also applies to the assessment for a need for supervision.