Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of extending the eligibility criteria for new style Employment Support Allowance to include contributions to national insurance paid in the last three years that do not fall within the relevant income tax years.

There are no plans to extend the qualifying period for new style Employment and Support Allowance to include National Insurance contributions paid in the last three years that do not fall within the relevant income tax years.

The Government considers the current qualifying period looking at an individual's contribution record over the last two complete tax years to be a fair way of assessing entitlement.