Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department are taking to support people over the age of 66 with mobility issues to lease a motor vehicle.

The Motability Scheme is open to anyone who qualifies for the higher-rate mobility component for Disability Living Allowance (DLA), the enhanced rate of the mobility component for Personal Independence Payment (PIP), the Armed Forces Independence Payment or the War Pensioners Mobility Supplement. Where claimants have an existing entitlement to a qualifying benefit when they reach pension age, this can continue for as long as that individual remains entitled and this would allow them to retain their Motability vehicle.

Attendance Allowance (AA) is intended to help those with a severe disability who have long term care or supervision needs which arise after reaching State Pension Age. It has never included a mobility component, and so cannot be used in payment for a leased Motability Scheme vehicle. Government mobility support is focused on people who are disabled earlier in life, as developing mobility needs in older life is a normal consequence of ageing. While the intention is for AA to cover the need for care or supervision that an individual may face as a result of their disability, there is no constraint on what the benefit can be used for, and individual recipients can choose to use their AA to fund mobility aids.