Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what policy guidance departmental staff follow when offering claimants an increased benefits award over the telephone after their appeal has been lodged; and if she will place a copy of that policy in the Library.

A copy of the guidance will be placed in the library. It includes a step by step approach that must be taken to ensure that claimants fully understand the nature of the call and their rights; it also enables any representative to play a full part in the discussions and the decision to be made.

During the call claimants are told that should the decision be revised and the appeal lapsed, they will have a new right of appeal against the new decision. The decision notification itself includes, as it must in law, details of those appeal rights.