Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people with multiple sclerosis in receipt of disability living allowance who (a) underwent a reassessment and (b) made a new application for personal independence payments had their (i) application rejected and (ii) award reduced as a result of an informal observation made by the assessor in each year since 2013.

The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

Informal observations form part of the suite of evidence used by Health Professionals at the face to face assessment to help Case Managers determine entitlement to benefit, along with medical evidence, history of conditions, social and occupational history, functional history including the ‘typical day’ and the functional examination.

More information can be found at paragraph 1.6 in the Personal Independence Payment Assessment Guide at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/personal-independence-payment-assessment-guide-for-assessment-providers/pip-assessment-guide-part-1-the-assessment-process#carrying-out-pip-assessments