Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of (a) support available and (b) policies for addressing the issues that additional brain injury patients experience in day to day living.

We have taken your PQ to refer to support for people with Acquired Brain Injury. People who are unable to work because they are disabled or have a health condition, including people who have Acquired Brain Injury, may be eligible for Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) or Universal Credit (UC). Extra costs benefits, including Personal Independence Payment (PIP), are also available to help people with long-term health conditions or disabilities. PIP can be paid in addition to other benefits and support, including benefits which may help with the costs of living.

The Work Capability Assessment (WCA) determines entitlement to ESA and the additional health-related element of UC. A case discussion about the needs of claimants with Acquired Brain Injury forms part of new entrant training for all WCA assessors, who also have access to a self-directed learning module on Acquired Brain Injury which was updated this year and quality assured by Headway, the brain injury association. Headway is also a member of the WCA provider’s customer representative group.

Acquired Brain Injury is incorporated into training for PIP Health Professionals, who all have access to a Condition Insight Report on brain injury that was updated in 2020 and completed in collaboration with Headway. The PIP Forum regularly consults with a wide range of stakeholders to ensure that PIP meets the needs of its claimants.

The National Disability Strategy aims to improve disabled people’s everyday lives. Our long term vision is to transform disabled people’s day-to-day lives. The strategy offers both a positive vision for long term societal change and a wide-ranging, practical plan for action now.

Although progress has been made over recent decades on accessibility and inclusion, far too often obstacles remain. The strategy sets out probably the widest-ranging set of practical actions to improve the lives of disabled people ever developed, across jobs, housing, transport, education, shopping, culture, justice, public services, and data and evidence.