Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent estimate he has made of the average waiting time for mandatory reconsideration of a benefit decision in (a) Coventry, (b) the West Midlands and (c) England; and what steps his Department is taking to ensure that mandatory reconsiderations are carried out (i) quickly and (ii) effectively.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
We endeavor to complete Mandatory Reconsiderations without delay. Recently, we added over 400 staff to the Disputes Resolution Service to help ensure that applications are dealt with in a timely manner. Our overarching focus, however, is on taking the time necessary to thoroughly review all the available evidence, to help ensure we make the right decision.
Information on Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) Work Capability Assessment (WCA) Mandatory Reconsideration (MR) clearances are available on GOV.UK:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/personal-independence-payment-statistics
Additional breakdowns of the figures, including by region, local authority and parliamentary constituency, are available on Stat-Xplore for PIP and ESA WCA MR clearance times:
https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/.
Guidance for users is available at:
https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Getting-Started.html.
PIP MR clearance times for financial year 2021-22 are shown in the table below. Additional figures by region, local authority and parliamentary constituency, are available in the tables released with the PIP publication referenced above, specifically Tables 4B(ii) and 4B(iii).
Table 1: Median PIP MR clearance times (calendar days), Normal Rules, from April 2021 to March 2022
Year | Coventry | West Midlands | England |
April 2021 to March 2022 | 61* | 62** | 62*** |
*Source: PIP statistics to July; table 4B_(ii)
**Source: PIP statistics to July; table 4B_(iii)
***Source: PIP ADS
Notes:
Asked by: Mohammad Yasin (Labour - Bedford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the (a) mean, (b) median, (c) longest and (d) shortest wait time was for processing mandatory reconsiderations of benefits decisions in the latest period for which data is available.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The lower quartile, median, mean and upper quartile waiting times for processing mandatory reconsiderations for PIP, UC and ESA benefit decisions are below. To provide information across all other DWP administered benefits would incur disproportionate cost.
Note that information about the extremes of a distribution (e.g. the maximum clearance time) risks being disclosive. We would not release this information publicly. Therefore, we have presented information on the lower quartile, median, mean and upper quartile of clearance times. Please note, the mean can be unduly affected by outlying cases. As such, the median is our preferred central measure for MR clearance times.
Table 1: PIP MR clearance times (calendar days), Normal Rules, from August 2021 to July 2022
Year | Lower Quartile | Median | Mean | Upper Quartile |
August 2021 – July 2022 | 38 | 57 | 55 | 70 |
Notes:
Table 2: UC MR clearance times (calendar days) from October 2021 to September 2022
Year | Lower Quartile | Median | Mean | Upper Quartile |
October 2021 to September 2022 | 23 | 51 | 67 | 100 |
Notes:
Table 3: ESA WCA MR clearance times (calendar days) from August 2021 to July 2022
Year | Lower Quartile | Median | Mean | Upper Quartile |
August 2021 to July 2022 | 5 | 10 | 13 | 14 |
Notes:
1. ESA MR clearance times are based on the date when the Benefit Centre has decided that the MR received is a valid MR, having considered whether they can initially change the decision in the light of any new information to the date when the decision maker at the Dispute Resolution Team (DRT) has cleared and logged the final decision.
Notes
Asked by: Virginia Crosbie (Conservative - Ynys Môn)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to support people diagnosed with a terminal illness to access benefits; and what plans she has to bring forward legislation to amend (a) Attendance Allowance, (b) Disability Living Allowance and (c) Personal Independence Payments to reflect the Special Rules for Terminal Illness.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
The Government wants to do all it can to alleviate the pressures on those nearing the end of their lives, and on their families.
The Social Security (Special Rules for End of Life) Bill completed all Commons and Lords stages on 8th September 2022 and is now awaiting Royal Assent.
The Bill will enable people who are thought to be in the final year of their life to get fast-tracked access to Disability Living Allowance (DLA), Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and Attendance Allowance (AA). It amends the definition of end of life in existing legislation, which is based on the claimant having six months or less to live, replacing it with a new twelve-month definition that aligns with the end-of-life approach taken across the NHS. Similar changes were made to the definition of end of life used in Universal Credit and Employment and Support Allowance in April 2022.
Asked by: Julian Lewis (Conservative - New Forest East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment her Department has made of the financial (a) impact upon and (b) assistance available to people of working age forced to leave their jobs following a diagnosis of terminal illness; and if she will make it her policy to enable such people to have early access to their state pension.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
The Government wants to do all it can to alleviate the pressures on those nearing the end of their lives, and on their families.
The main way that the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) does this is through special benefit rules, sometimes referred to as “the Special Rules”. These enable people who are nearing the end of their lives to get faster, easier access to certain benefits, without needing to attend a medical assessment, serve waiting periods and in most cases, receive the highest rate of benefit. For many years, the Special Rules have applied to people who have 6 months or less to live and now they are being changed so they apply to people who have 12 months or less to live.
Once the change has been fully rolled out across all benefits, each year, between 30,000 and 60,000 people may benefit from these changes to the Special Rules. This will mean that the Government is spending approximately £115 million a year more on people who are nearing the end of their lives.
There are no plans to allow early access to State Pension.
This Government is committed to providing a financial safety net for those who need it, including when they near or reach retirement. Support is available through the welfare system to those who are unable to work or are on a low income but are not eligible to pensioner benefits because of their age.
Asked by: Beth Winter (Labour - Cynon Valley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 3 February 2022 to Question 112701 on Social Security Benefits: Terminal Illnesses, what plans her Department has to bring forward further legislative proposals to implement changes to the Special Rules for Terminal Illness in Attendance Allowance, Disability Living Allowance and Personal Independence Payment.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
The Department introduced the Social Security (Special Rules for End of Life) Bill into the House of Lords on 11th May 2022. The Bill will enable people who are thought to be in the final year of their life to get fast-tracked access to Disability Living Allowance (DLA), Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and Attendance Allowance (AA). The measures will amend the definition of end of life in existing legislation, which is based on the claimant having six months or less to live, by replacing it with a new twelve-month definition that aligns with the end-of-life approach taken across the NHS.
The Bill has completed all Lords stages and the Commons stages took place on 8th September 2022. This follows similar changes the Department made by secondary legislation to implement the 12-month approach in Universal Credit and Employment and Support Allowance in April 2022.
Asked by: Navendu Mishra (Labour - Stockport)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make an assessment of the impact of the delays in the Office of Public Guardian processing applications for Lasting Power of Attorney on applicants and their families.
Answered by Simon Baynes
The Office of the Public Guardian (OPG) understand that the delays are frustrating for customers, at a time when applicants and their families are planning for their future, which can already be distressing.
A backlog of applications to register lasting powers of attorney built up during the pandemic and, as restrictions eased, there was a subsequent significant increase in the numbers of applications being received. Customers are currently waiting up to 20 weeks for a lasting powers of attorney to be registered, which includes a four-week statutory notice period.
Lasting powers of attorney are tools for long term financial planning, however, in cases where there is an urgent need e.g. if a customer has a terminal illness, OPG do have a process for expediting the registration.
OPG is working hard to improve the service being offered to customers. Frontline operational staff have worked in the office throughout the pandemic and continue to do so, with OPG’s Birmingham office operating at maximum capacity. Staff are working day and evening shifts to maximise the use of office space. Managers are also encouraging staff to work overtime through the week and at weekends to increase the volume of lasting powers of attorney being registered. Staff are being recruited on a rolling basis and the use of agency staff is being extended.
Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the (a) shortest, (b) median and (c) longest waiting times are among Personal Independence Payment applicants who are awaiting an assessment as of 28 June 2022.
Answered by Chloe Smith
Time waiting for assessment is defined as the time from the date an application was referred to the provider from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to the date the assessment was completed and referred back to DWP. Where claimants are outstanding, the assessment is not yet complete.
Shortest waiting times:
Shortest waiting times relate to Special rules for Terminal Illness (SRTI) cases where claimants have a terminal diagnosis.
As of May 2022 (the latest available data), the average time for an SRTI case to be returned to DWP after referral to a provider (i.e., assessment is complete) was 1.61 working days.
Median waiting times:
Median waiting times for each stage of the claimant process can be found in published stats.
Median time waiting for an assessment as of April 2022 (the latest available data) was 12 weeks for new claims and 11 weeks for reassessments.
Longest waiting time:
Latest data from 20 June 2022 shows the oldest case was referred in July 2021.
Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to ensure that people who have family members with terminal illness will be eligible for free lateral flow tests after 1 April.
Answered by Lord Kamall
From 1 April 2022, free universal access to lateral flow device tests for the public in England will end. We will continue to make testing available for a small number of at risk groups. Further details on eligible groups will be made available in due course.
Asked by: Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat - North East Fife)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to research by Cardiff University’s Marie Curie Palliative Care Research Centre, Public attitudes to death and dying in the UK, published on 2 November 2021, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the finding in that report that over three quarters of people in the UK think that end of life care should be of equal priority to the NHS as care for people at any other stage of life; and what steps he is taking to ensure that palliative care services are available to all people a terminal illness who need them.
Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education
Although no specific assessment has been made, the National Health Service is required to commission appropriate palliative and end of life care services as part of a comprehensive health service. The Government tabled an amendment to the Health and Care Bill which will add palliative care to the list of services an integrated care board (ICB) must commission.
To support local commissioners, NHS England and NHS Improvement have developed seven palliative and end of life care strategic clinical networks, working with ICBs to develop and implement sustainable commissioning models for palliative and end of life care which respond to the needs of their local population.
Asked by: Steve Reed (Labour (Co-op) - Croydon North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what information his Department holds on the (a) number and (b) trends in the level of prisoners released through early release on compassionate grounds in each of the last five years.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
As detailed in Prison Service Order 600 and Prison Service Order 4700, the Secretary of State may use his executive power to release prisoners early on compassionate grounds. An application may be made by or any behalf of any prisoner, but early release is granted only in exceptional circumstances, where a prisoner is suffering from a terminal illness or is experiencing tragic family circumstances and where releasing the prisoner on licence would not place the public at risk. The Secretary of State for Justice has recently decided to take all decisions personally; previously, decisions were delegated to officials.
Please find below the number of prisoners released early on compassionate grounds in England and Wales, in the last nine calendar years.
2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 (up to September) |
7 | 11 | 11 | 18 | 6 | 18 | 11 | 14 | 11 |
Please note that the data for 2021 is up to and including September 2021 as data beyond this are a subset of our releases data, due for future publication as part of Offender Management Statistics Quarterly.