Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to her Written Statement of 5 March 2019, HCWS1376,what assessment she has made of the effect of new provisions for reviews of personal independence payments on the review timescale for claimants who are state pension age and over.

In March 2019 the Secretary of State announced that people receiving Personal Independence Payment (PIP) who have reached State Pension Age will no longer have their awards regularly reviewed, instead moving to a light touch review at 10 years. From 31 May 2019 new claimants to PIP whose review would have been scheduled after they had reached State Pension age will receive an ongoing award with a light touch review at 10 years. Claimants already in receipt of PIP will be moved to on-going awards from this July.

This change is an important step in improving the claimant experience by reducing reviews for these claimants whose needs are less likely to change.