Asked by: Helen Whately (Conservative - Faversham and Mid Kent)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department has targets for employing more staff to carry out face-to-face assessments.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
As outlined in the Pathways to Work Green Paper, we are planning to increase the number of face-to-face health assessments. At the same time, we remain committed to offering alternative assessment channels to accommodate individuals who require a different approach, such as those needing reasonable adjustments.
All assessment suppliers have contractual requirements to increase the proportion of assessments conducted face-to-face. To meet these requirements, suppliers are expected to plan and manage recruitment accordingly with progress regularly reviewed.
The department is working closely with suppliers to explore ways to boost capacity for face-to-face assessments. A key focus is increasing the recruitment of suitably qualified health professionals to support delivery in assessment centres.
Suppliers continue to develop and implement strategies to enhance recruitment, training, and retention, ensuring that skilled staff are in place to support claimants effectively.
Asked by: Helen Whately (Conservative - Faversham and Mid Kent)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many additional staff have been employed to carry out face-to-face PIP assessments since July 2024.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department for Work and Pensions has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.
Asked by: Helen Whately (Conservative - Faversham and Mid Kent)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many face-to-face PIP assessments have been conducted in each region of the UK since July 2024.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department for Work and Pensions has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.
Asked by: Helen Whately (Conservative - Faversham and Mid Kent)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many face-to-face PIP assessments have taken place since July 2024, broken down by month.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department for Work and Pensions has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.
Asked by: Fred Thomas (Labour - Plymouth Moor View)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many PIP assessments were conducted (a) face-to-face and (b) by phone in each of the last two years.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The number of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) assessments carried out by (a) face-to-face and (b) telephone in the last two calendar years are readily available on tab T2_32_Assessment_by_Channel, in Tables 2.32a and 2.32b of Pathways to Work: Evidence pack: Chapter 2 reforming the structure.
In addition to face-to-face and telephone, PIP assessments have also been conducted via paper-based and video assessments during the time period requested. These assessment channels are also shown in the tables contained in the evidence pack.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department plans to bring forward the timing of Personal Independence Payment review assessments.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We have launched a review of the PIP assessment as a whole, to make sure it is fair and fit for the future in a changing world and helps support disabled people to achieve better health, higher living standards and greater independence. I am leading the review.
We published the Terms of Reference for the Review on 30 June 2025, and will update these shortly. We have committed to co-producing the review with disabled people, the organisations that represent them, clinicians, experts, Members of Parliament and other stakeholders. We will engage widely over the summer to design the process for the work of the review and consider how it can best be co-produced to ensure that expertise from a range of different perspectives is drawn upon.
We are committed to concluding the review by Autumn 2026 and will report outcomes to the House in a ministerial Oral Statement. We have committed to a general debate on this, in Government time. The legislation to implement the outcomes of the review will not be brought forward until that has happened.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of mandating in-person appointments for personal independent payment assessments.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department is committed to assessing people as quickly as possible to ensure they receive the support they are entitled to in a timely manner.
Where there is sufficient available evidence, assessments are done by paper-based review, without the need for a formal consultation. If an in-person consultation is required this is completed either face-to-face, via telephone or via video call.
We announced in the Pathways to Work Green Paper our intention to increase the number of face-to-face assessments, while preserving alternative health assessment channels to meet the specific needs of people who require them, for example as a reasonable adjustment. We are committed to continuing a multi-channel assessment service approach to meet the obligations of the Equality Act 2010.
Asked by: Will Forster (Liberal Democrat - Woking)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 3 July 2025 to Question 63482 on Personal Independence Payment: Medical Examinations and with reference to her letter of 26 June 2025 on the Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill, whether the announced exemption from reassessment for existing Personal Independence Payment claimants will also apply to the All Review claimants whose award is subject to a scheduled review or reassessment process at the time the exemption comes into force.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government is committed to providing security and dignity for those who will never be able to work, and removing unnecessary stress, anxiety and uncertainty from the Social Security System. Subject to Parliamentary approval, the Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill legislates to formally protect those with the most severe, lifelong health conditions, who meet the Severe Conditions Criteria, from being called for reassessments for their Universal Credit Health Element award. The Severe Conditions Criteria applies to customers in receipt of Universal Credit rather than those in receipt of the Personal Independence Payment (PIP).
Asked by: Lola McEvoy (Labour - Darlington)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when the guidance on people who will be protected from reassessment of PIP due to their long term severe conditions will be published.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government is committed to providing security and dignity for those who will never be able to work, and removing unnecessary stress, anxiety and uncertainty from the Social Security System. Subject to Parliamentary approval, the Welfare Bill legislates to formally protect those with the most severe, lifelong health conditions, who meet the Severe Conditions Criteria, from being called for reassessment for Universal Credit. The Severe Conditions Criteria applies to eligible customers in receipt of Universal Credit rather than those in receipt of Personal Independence Payment (PIP).
If a customer’s condition changes, they will continue to have the ability to request a reassessment via the existing change of circumstances process.
Regarding PIP, we are launching a wider review of the PIP assessment to ensure that it is fair, fit for the future and helps support disabled people to achieve better health, higher living standards and greater independence. There is no equivalent SCC in PIP, however we are considering how to protect those people who meet the SCC when the WCA is abolished and PIP becomes the passport to the new UC Health element.
Asked by: Mel Stride (Conservative - Central Devon)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department has made a comparative assessment of award rates for (a) in-person and (b) other modes of PIP assessment.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Health Assessment Channels Trial, conducted by the department between May 2022 and March 2023, compared the monetary impact of each PIP assessment channel, focussing on initial claimants eligible for all channels (in-person, telephone or video). The trial found that the award rates of PIP claimants allocated an in-person assessment did not differ considerably from the proportion of claimants awarded PIP after being allocated a remote channel. We are working on publishing the full results of the trial in due course.
As part of the Functional Assessment Service (FAS) process, a paper-based assessment is always considered first. Where a paper-based review is not possible the claimant will be invited to an assessment.
Before sending an invitation, the assessment supplier considers whether a specific assessment channel is needed due to the claimant’s health or circumstances. Otherwise, claimants are offered the next available appointment, which can be changed if the claimant informs us that a reasonable adjustment is appropriate in their circumstances.
While suppliers recommend awards, the final decisions are made by case managers who may alter these recommendations.
We have also announced a wider review of the PIP assessment to make it fair and fit for purpose, which I am leading. We are bringing together a range of experts, stakeholders and people with lived experience to consider how best to do this. We will provide further details as plans progress. The review is expected to conclude in autumn 2026.