Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer on 8 September 2020 to Question 81700 on Personal Independence Payment, how many of the 7,260 claimants who died after registering a personal independence payment claim since April 2018 but prior to her Department making a decision on their claim applied under (a) Normal Rules and (b) Special Rules.

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.

New Claims made under Special Rules for Terminal Illness (SRTI) are fast tracked and were being cleared in 4 working days on average in April 2020. This is compared to an average of 16 weeks for New Claims cleared under Normal Rules in April 2020, down by 62% from their peak of 42 weeks in July 2014.

The cause of death of claimants to PIP is not collated centrally by the Department. There is no evidence in this data to suggest someone’s reason for claiming PIP was the cause of their death and it would be misleading to suggest otherwise. People claim PIP for various reasons, the majority of which are non-life threatening.

Of the 7,260 claimants who died after registering a PIP claim but prior to a decision being made on their case between April 2018 and 30^th April 2020 5,520 applied under (a) Normal Rules and 1,740 applied under (b) Special Rules.

Notes:

Sources: PIP ADS, Customer Information System

• These figures include new claims and Disability Living Allowance (DLA) to PIP reassessment claims.
• If a claimant dies before a decision is made on an outstanding claim, the Department establishes whether the claimant’s representative or next of kin wishes to proceed with the claim. If not, the claim is withdrawn.
• This is unpublished data from the PIP computer system’s (PIP CS) management information. It should be used with caution and may be subject to future revision.
• Figures include registrations made from April 2018 – April 2020 and clearances made up to April 2020 (as recorded on the system at 30^th April 2020) and claimant deaths from April 2018 – April 2020 (as recorded on the system at 31^st August 2020) and may be subject to retrospection.
• The latest PIP Official Statistics, including data to 31^st July 2020, were published on 15^th September 2020. We have provided figures here as at 30^th April 2020 for consistency with the original answer to PQ 81700.
• Figures are rounded to the nearest 10.
• GB only.

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.