Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many new personal independence payment claimants with multiple sclerosis in (a) Scotland, (b) Northern Ireland and (c) Wales did not receive an award during their initial personal independence payment assessment and subsequently received an award at (i) mandatory reconsideration and (ii) tribunal in each year since 2013.

The Northern Irish Assembly has devolved responsibility for social security benefits including Personal Independence Payment (PIP). Information regarding PIP in Northern Ireland is therefore the responsibility of the Department for Communities in Northern Ireland.

Tables 1 and 2 below show, for Scotland and Wales, the number of decisions, Mandatory Reconsiderations (MRs) and appeals for new claims for PIP where the initial decision was disallowance post-referral to the Assessment Provider (AP) due to failing the assessment, for claimants with a primary disability of Multiple Sclerosis.

Tables 3 and 4 below show, for Scotland and Wales, the number of decisions, MRs and appeals relating to Disability Living Allowance (DLA) claimants with a primary disability of Multiple Sclerosis who have undergone a reassessment to PIP.

Since PIP was introduced 3.7m decisions have been made until September 2018 in Great Britain, of these 10% have been appealed and 5% have been overturned.

We’re committed to ensuring that disabled people get the full support that they need, and under PIP 52% of people with MS receive the highest possible award, compared with 39% under the previous benefit DLA. May 2013 is chosen for comparison as this is the last month with a full DLA caseload prior to claimants being reassessed from DLA to PIP.

Data on the number of people who had the mobility award increased from none or standard rate to the enhanced rate is available from internal analytical datasets, but to assess the completeness of recording and quality assure the figures to answer this PQ would incur disproportionate cost.

'#' fewer than 5 decisions in this category.

The data relates to MRs and appeals recorded up to September 2018 (the latest published data on appeals). Claimants who have received benefit decisions more recently may not yet have had time to complete the claimant journey and progress to appeal.

PIP data includes normal rules and special rules for the terminally ill claimants.

Data is based on primary disabling condition as recorded on the PIP computer system. Claimants may often have multiple disabling conditions upon which the decision is based but only the primary condition is shown in these statistics.

Appeals data shown in the tables is taken from the DWP PIP computer system’s management information. Therefore this appeals data may differ from that held by Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service for various reasons such as delays in data recording and other methodological differences in collating and preparing statistics.

Some decisions which are changed at mandatory reconsideration, and where the claimant continues to appeal for a higher PIP award, are then changed again at tribunal appeal. Therefore the number of people who had a decision changed at mandatory reconsideration and the number of people who had a decision changed at tribunal appeal cannot be added together.

Decisions overturned at appeal may include a number of appeals that have been lapsed (which is where DWP changed the decision after an appeal was lodged but before it was heard at Tribunal).