Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of total claimants in receipt of personal independence payment died between (a) March and May 2020, and (b) March and May 2019.
Personal Independence Payment (PIP) is claimed by people with a range of health conditions and disabilities, many of which are degenerative or life limiting and the Department treats the death of any claimant sympathetically. The cause of death of claimants to PIP is not collated centrally by the Department.
Table 1 below shows for each month from March 2019 – May 2019 and March 2020 – April 2020: (a) The number of PIP claimants with entitlement to PIP who died having had entitlement on the last day of each month.
(b) The total number of PIP claims with entitlement on the last day each month.
(c) The percentage of claimants entitled to PIP who died in each month which is calculated by dividing (a) the number of claimant deaths in each month by (b) the total number of PIP claims with entitlement in the same month.
Note that April 2020 is the latest month for which data is available.
Table 1: Summary of PIP claimants with entitlement who died from March 2019 – May 2019 and March 2020 – April 2020
| Month | ||||
Mar-19 | Apr-19 | May-19 | Mar-20 | Apr-20 | |
(a) Number of PIP Claimant Deaths | 4,650 | 4,580 | 4,460 | 5,880 | 6,180 |
(b) Total PIP Claims with entitlement | 2,098,090 | 2,113,170 | 2,134,400 | 2,455,300 | 2,485,600 |
(c) Death rate of PIP claimants with entitlement | 0.22% | 0.22% | 0.21% | 0.24% | 0.25% |
Source: PIP ADS and Customer Information System and Stat-Xplore
Notes:
Under the Social Security (Notification of Deaths) Regulations 2012 and s125 of Social Security Administration Act 1992 date of death is provided to the Department for all registered deaths. Additionally, next of kin also provide information on the date of death of an individual and this information is used appropriately in the administration of Departmental benefits.