Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether plans she has to exempt people with Motor Neurone Disease who are in receipt of the higher rate of Employment Support Allowance from being required to undertake a reassessment of their capability to work.

Entitlement to Employment and Support Allowance is based on a how a person’s health condition affects their functional capability to work. This means that we do not make exemptions from the Work Capability Assessment (WCA) process based solely on medical conditions.

Since 29 September 2017, those placed in ESA’s Support Group and the UC equivalent who have the most severe and lifelong health conditions or disabilities, whose level of function would always mean that they would have Limited Capability for Work and Work-Related Activity, and be unlikely ever to be able to move into work, will no longer be routinely reassessed.

The Department’s Severe Conditions guidance used by Healthcare Professionals, who undertake the assessments, has been designed to have the least possible impact on claimants. We will ask claimants to complete a new health questionnaire, and where appropriate we will ask their General Practitioner or Specialist Healthcare Professional for further, supporting evidence, so that in the vast majority of cases we should be able to make a decision on whether someone meets the criteria without the need for a face to face assessment.

However I have previously met representatives of the Motor Neurone Disease Association, and listened to their concerns regarding the reassessment process. I have assured the Association that I will look carefully at how the reassessment process works for people with Motor Neurone Disease.