Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people were awaiting a decision on their Personal Independence Payment application on the first day of each month in 2021.
Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The table below gives the number of outstanding PIP cases on the first of each month from 2021 to 2023. Claims are considered outstanding when the claim has been registered but a decision has not yet been made by a Case Manager on whether to award PIP.
Month | Outstanding cases |
Jan-21 | 220,000 |
Feb-21 | 233,000 |
Mar-21 | 237,000 |
Apr-21 | 252,000 |
May-21 | 265,000 |
Jun-21 | 281,000 |
Jul-21 | 296,000 |
Aug-21 | 297,000 |
Sep-21 | 302,000 |
Oct-21 | 308,000 |
Nov-21 | 316,000 |
Dec-21 | 312,000 |
Jan-22 | 301,000 |
Feb-22 | 308,000 |
Mar-22 | 307,000 |
Apr-22 | 303,000 |
May-22 | 295,000 |
Jun-22 | 300,000 |
Jul-22 | 299,000 |
Aug-22 | 284,000 |
Sep-22 | 282,000 |
Oct-22 | 284,000 |
Nov-22 | 275,000 |
Dec-22 | 259,000 |
Jan-23 | 237,000 |
Feb-23 | 232,000 |
Mar-23 | 245,000 |
Apr-23 | 273,000 |
May-23 | 286,000 |
Jun-23 | 301,000 |
Jul-23 | 298,000 |
Aug-23 | 286,000 |
Sep-23 | 281,000 |
Oct-23 | 291,000 |
Nov-23 | 287,000 |
Dec-23 | 276,000 |
Notes:
- Source: PIP Atomic Data Store;
- Figures are rounded to the nearest 1,000;
- Figures are for England and Wales only;
- These figures include claims made under normal rules and special rules for terminal illness and include both new claims and Disability Living Allowance (DLA) to PIP reassessment claims.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people were awaiting a decision on their Personal Independence Payment application on the first day of each month in 2022.
Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The table below gives the number of outstanding PIP cases on the first of each month from 2021 to 2023. Claims are considered outstanding when the claim has been registered but a decision has not yet been made by a Case Manager on whether to award PIP.
Month | Outstanding cases |
Jan-21 | 220,000 |
Feb-21 | 233,000 |
Mar-21 | 237,000 |
Apr-21 | 252,000 |
May-21 | 265,000 |
Jun-21 | 281,000 |
Jul-21 | 296,000 |
Aug-21 | 297,000 |
Sep-21 | 302,000 |
Oct-21 | 308,000 |
Nov-21 | 316,000 |
Dec-21 | 312,000 |
Jan-22 | 301,000 |
Feb-22 | 308,000 |
Mar-22 | 307,000 |
Apr-22 | 303,000 |
May-22 | 295,000 |
Jun-22 | 300,000 |
Jul-22 | 299,000 |
Aug-22 | 284,000 |
Sep-22 | 282,000 |
Oct-22 | 284,000 |
Nov-22 | 275,000 |
Dec-22 | 259,000 |
Jan-23 | 237,000 |
Feb-23 | 232,000 |
Mar-23 | 245,000 |
Apr-23 | 273,000 |
May-23 | 286,000 |
Jun-23 | 301,000 |
Jul-23 | 298,000 |
Aug-23 | 286,000 |
Sep-23 | 281,000 |
Oct-23 | 291,000 |
Nov-23 | 287,000 |
Dec-23 | 276,000 |
Notes:
- Source: PIP Atomic Data Store;
- Figures are rounded to the nearest 1,000;
- Figures are for England and Wales only;
- These figures include claims made under normal rules and special rules for terminal illness and include both new claims and Disability Living Allowance (DLA) to PIP reassessment claims.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many applicants for Personal Independence Payment had not received a decision on the first day of each month in 2023.
Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The table below gives the number of outstanding PIP cases on the first of each month from 2021 to 2023. Claims are considered outstanding when the claim has been registered but a decision has not yet been made by a Case Manager on whether to award PIP.
Month | Outstanding cases |
Jan-21 | 220,000 |
Feb-21 | 233,000 |
Mar-21 | 237,000 |
Apr-21 | 252,000 |
May-21 | 265,000 |
Jun-21 | 281,000 |
Jul-21 | 296,000 |
Aug-21 | 297,000 |
Sep-21 | 302,000 |
Oct-21 | 308,000 |
Nov-21 | 316,000 |
Dec-21 | 312,000 |
Jan-22 | 301,000 |
Feb-22 | 308,000 |
Mar-22 | 307,000 |
Apr-22 | 303,000 |
May-22 | 295,000 |
Jun-22 | 300,000 |
Jul-22 | 299,000 |
Aug-22 | 284,000 |
Sep-22 | 282,000 |
Oct-22 | 284,000 |
Nov-22 | 275,000 |
Dec-22 | 259,000 |
Jan-23 | 237,000 |
Feb-23 | 232,000 |
Mar-23 | 245,000 |
Apr-23 | 273,000 |
May-23 | 286,000 |
Jun-23 | 301,000 |
Jul-23 | 298,000 |
Aug-23 | 286,000 |
Sep-23 | 281,000 |
Oct-23 | 291,000 |
Nov-23 | 287,000 |
Dec-23 | 276,000 |
Notes:
- Source: PIP Atomic Data Store;
- Figures are rounded to the nearest 1,000;
- Figures are for England and Wales only;
- These figures include claims made under normal rules and special rules for terminal illness and include both new claims and Disability Living Allowance (DLA) to PIP reassessment claims.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department plans to reduce the Lifetime ISA withdrawal penalty.
Answered by Bim Afolami - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Lifetime ISA (LISA) is designed to support people to achieve the aspiration of homeownership, or to build up savings for their later life. LISA funds, including any Government bonus, can be withdrawn for the purchase of a first home under £450,000, in the case of terminal illness or from the age of 60.
Any unauthorised withdrawals are subject to a 25% withdrawal charge. This recoups the government bonus, any interest or growth arising from it, and a proportion of the individual’s initial savings to discourage such withdrawals and protect the long-term nature of the account. Reducing the withdrawal charge would encourage the use of LISAs in ways for which they were not intended.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of extending the criteria for winter fuel payments to include people with a terminal illness.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Winter fuel payments are a transferred matter in Northern Ireland, although the Department for Communities there maintains parity with the Department for Work and Pensions.
Winter fuel payments are made to people who have reached State Pension age and meet the relevant residence criteria in the third week of September each year. There are no plans to change these eligibility criteria. This winter, as last, the payments include the Pensioner Cost of Living Payment of £300 on top of the usual rate of £200 for a pensioner household with someone aged under 80, and £300 for households with someone aged 80 or over.
More broadly, the Department is committed to supporting people with a terminal illness. The Special Rules for End of Life enable people with a terminal illness to get faster, easier access to certain benefits without needing to attend a medical assessment or serve waiting periods; and in most cases, receive the highest rate of benefit.
For many years, the Special Rules for End of Life have applied to people who have six months or less to live, and now they have been changed so they apply to people who have 12 months or less to live. Changes to these rules means that thousands of people nearing the end of life will be able to claim fast-tracked financial support from the benefits system six months earlier than they were able to previously.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of providing additional financial support for energy costs to people with a terminal illness.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Government frequently assesses the merits of energy cost support policies and the impacts various policy ideas would have on the most vulnerable households.
The Government is continuing to provide targeted support for vulnerable households as prices come down. In 2023-24 the Government is already providing additional cost of living payments of up to £900 to households on means-tested benefits, £300 to pensioner households, and £150 to those on eligible disability benefits.
This is alongside existing and ongoing energy bills support for the most vulnerable that includes the:
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 benefit decisions in (a) Coventry, (b) the West Midlands and (c) England; and what steps his Department is taking to ensure that mandatory reconsiderations are conducted (i) quickly and (ii) effectively.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The median mandatory reconsideration (MR) clearance times have been provided for Personal Independence Payment (PIP), Universal Credit (UC) and Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) benefit decisions. To provide information across all other DWP administered benefits would incur disproportionate cost.
Median clearance times have been provided as the mean can be unduly affected by outlying cases.
Personal Independence Payment
The median clearance times for PIP Mandatory Reconsiderations, normal rules between August 2022 and July 2023, were:
a) 28 calendar days for Coventry
b) 28 calendar days for West Midlands
c) 28 calendar days for England
Notes:
Universal Credit
The median clearance times for UC Mandatory Reconsiderations between August 2022 and July 2023 were:
a) 37 calendar days for Coventry
b) 35 calendar days for West Midlands
c) 36 calendar days for England
Notes:
Employment and Support Allowance
ESA Work Capability Assessment MR clearance times are available on Stat-Xplore: https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/. It can be found by going through “ESA Work Capability Assessments”, “Mandatory Reconsideration – Clearances” “Table 4 – Median Clearance Times by Date of Decision”. It is then possible to restrict to Coventry, West Midlands and England.
In law there is no time limit within which a Mandatory Reconsideration (MR) decision must be made. This reflects the overarching policy that the focus should be on making the right decision and not the speed of clearance. Of course, decisions will be made without delay but if the decision maker considers that more time is needed to gather or consider evidence, then they will give themselves that time to ensure they are confident that the decision ultimately made is correct.
We constantly review our processes to ensure we are providing the best possible customer service to customers requesting a mandatory reconsideration, both in terms of speed of dealing with the request and quality of decision making. For example, we have improved the system functionality in UC to allow some customers to directly upload evidence to inform a decision to improve the customer experience. We have also recruited circa 400 additional colleagues into the Dispute Resolution Service over the summer to increase capacity and reduce waiting times.
Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the finding by N White et al A Systematic Review of Predictions of Survival in Palliative Care: How Accurate Are Clinicians and Who Are the Experts?, published on 25 August 2016, which found that the accuracy of prognoses for terminal illnesses ranged between 23 and 78 per cent; and who is responsible within NHS England for collecting such data.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
No assessment has been made. Data on the accuracy of prognoses of terminal illness is not collected by NHS England.
Asked by: Paul Girvan (Democratic Unionist Party - South Antrim)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals to permit people with terminal illness to try medications approved by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence but not for their condition.
Answered by Will Quince
Prescribers are able to offer any treatment that they consider to be the most clinically appropriate care for the individual, subject to the NHS commissioner agreeing to funding. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) makes recommendations for the NHS on whether all new medicines and significant licence extensions for existing medicines should be routinely funded by the NHS based on an assessment of their costs and benefits.
The NHS in England is legally required to fund medicines recommended by NICE. In the absence of NICE guidance on the use of a medicine, NHS commissioners are expected to make funding decisions on individual treatments based on an assessment of the available evidence.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department plans to reduce the Lifetime ISA withdrawal penalty.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The LISA is designed to support people to achieve the aspiration of homeownership, or to build up savings for their later life. LISA funds, including any Government bonus, can be withdrawn for the purchase of a first home under £450,000, in the case of terminal illness or from the age of 60.
Although the government recognises that some individuals may wish to access their LISA savings for purposes other than those listed above, the Government considers that the charge is needed to protect the LISA’s status as a long-term savings product.
Removing or reducing the withdrawal charge would not be consistent with this and would encourage the use of LISAs in ways for which they were not intended.
The Government keeps all aspects of the savings tax regime under review.