Written Question

Social Security Benefits

Tuesday 2nd April 2019

Asked by: Madeleine Moon (Labour - Bridgend)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many claimants who applied for (a) attendance allowance, (b) employment support allowance and (c) universal credit have died within six months of having those applications rejected.

Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

The Department holds data across a number of data sets which would require analysis and quality assurance and would be a substantial piece of work to bring together to answer these questions; therefore the information requested could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

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Written Question

Social Security Benefits

Tuesday 2nd April 2019

Asked by: Madeleine Moon (Labour - Bridgend)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many claimants of (a) attendance allowance, (b) employment support allowance and (c) universal credit have died after registering those claims but prior to her Department making a decision on those claims; and how many of those claimants applied for those social security benefits under (i) normal and (ii) special rules.

Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

The Department holds data across a number of data sets which would require analysis and quality assurance and would be a substantial piece of work to bring together to answer these questions; therefore the information requested could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

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Written Question

Employment and Support Allowance: Terminal Illnesses

Tuesday 2nd April 2019

Asked by: Madeleine Moon (Labour - Bridgend)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many employment support allowance claimants who have had their application rejected under normal rules have subsequently reapplied for that social security benefit under the special rules for terminal illness process; and what medical conditions those claimants had.

Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

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Written Question

Universal Credit: Terminal Illnesses

Tuesday 2nd April 2019

Asked by: Madeleine Moon (Labour - Bridgend)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many universal credit claimants who have had their application rejected under normal rules have subsequently reapplied for that social security benefit under the special rules for terminal illness process; and what medical conditions those claimants had.

Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

The special rules applying to people who are terminally ill were first introduced in 1990 for Attendance Allowance following a recommendation from the Social Security Advisory Committee. The rules are common to a range of benefits and are also used elsewhere, for example the Early Access to Financial Assistance Scheme, administered by the Pension Protection Fund. The design of Universal Credit for terminally ill claimants is based on this well tested process. This is not a separate entitlement; this is part of the Universal Credit process, and as such, the information requested is not collated centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost. The Department is currently looking into what analytical information it can publish.

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Written Question

Attendance Allowance: Terminal Illnesses

Tuesday 2nd April 2019

Asked by: Madeleine Moon (Labour - Bridgend)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many attendance allowance claimants who have had their application rejected under normal rules have subsequently reapplied for that social security benefit under the special rules for terminal illness process; and what medical conditions those claimants had.

Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

The information requested is not available. When a decision is made not to award Attendance Allowance, the claim is closed. Any further application would be treated as a new claim and will be considered on the merits of the information provided.

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Written Question

Personal Independence Payment: Terminal Illnesses

Tuesday 2nd April 2019

Asked by: Madeleine Moon (Labour - Bridgend)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 1 Feb 2019 to Question 209781 on Personal Independence Payment, how many personal independence payments claimants died within six months of their claim being disallowed at initial decision under normal rules.

Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

Over 3.8 million applications to Personal Independence Payment (PIP) were made between April 2013 and 31^st July 2018. Of these, 10,380 PIP claimants died within six months of their claim being disallowed at initial decision under normal rules.

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.

Notes:

• These figures include claims cleared under normal rules as recorded at the point of disallowance.
• These figures include claimants whose initial claim was disallowed after assessment, for failing to attend assessment, for failing to return the PIP2 form or for failing lay rules. This does not take into account any mandatory reconsideration or appeal action so some of these claimants may have subsequently been awarded PIP.
• The point of initial decision on the application to PIP is taken as the day the DWP decision maker made a decision and recorded it on the PIP computer system.
• This data includes both new claims and Disability Living Allowance (DLA) reassessment claims.
• This is unpublished data from the PIP computer system’s (PIP CS) management information. It should be used with caution and it may be subject to future revision.
• Figures are rounded to the nearest 10 and “six months” has been measured in months for example, 5th March to the 5th April is one month.
• Figures cover claims made up to and including 31^st July 2018 and claimant deaths up to and including 31^st January 2019.
• 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.

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Written Question

Personal Independence Payment: Terminal Illnesses

Tuesday 2nd April 2019

Asked by: Madeleine Moon (Labour - Bridgend)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 1 Feb 2019 to Question 209781 on Personal Independence Payment, what the average length of time was between a claimant receiving an award under special rules for terminal illness and initially registering that claim under normal rules.

Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

The median time between registration and clearance for Personal Independence Payment (PIP) claims that were initially registered under Normal Rules but were awarded under Special Rules for Terminal Illness is 34 working days for all claims cleared between April 2013 to the end of January 2019. For reference, the clearance time from the point a claim changes from Normal Rules to Special Rules for Terminal Illness to clearance under Special Rules for Terminal Illness is 3 working days.

Source: PIP ADS

Notes:

• Figures have been rounded to the nearest working day, i.e. Monday to Friday (including bank holidays).

• This data includes both new claims and Disability Living Allowance (DLA) reassessment claims.

• The median time is the middle value if you were to order all the times within the distribution from lowest value to highest value. The median is presented here instead of the mean because the mean can be unduly affected by outlying cases (e.g. cases were the person has been hard to reach due to being in prison, hospital, failed to attend the assessment on numerous occasions etc.)

• The 'Registration to DWP decision (end to end)' clearance time is measured as the average time between the date of registration of the claim and the date of the DWP decision to either award or disallow the claim. It does not include claims that were withdrawn by the claimant or claims that were disallowed by DWP pre-referral to the Assessment Providers (e.g. for failure to meet basic eligibility criteria).

• This is unpublished data. It should be used with caution and it may be subject to future revision.

• Figures are for Great Britain only.

• Figures are correct as at 31^st January 2019.

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Written Question

Personal Independence Payment

Monday 18th March 2019

Asked by: Madeleine Moon (Labour - Bridgend)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 1 February 2019 to Question 209781 on Personal Independence Payment, what the recorded reasons for claimants being disallowed at initial decision under normal rules.

Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

With reference to Answer 209781, between April 2013 and October 2018, 5,630 Personal Independence Payments (PIP) claims were registered under Special Rules for Terminally Ill people (SRTI) by claimants who had previously been disallowed at initial decision under normal rules prior to 30^th April 2018. To put this into context, over 4 million applications to PIP were made between April 2013 and 31^st October 2018.

Of these 5,630 initial claims under normal rules, 3,160 (56%) had been disallowed at assessment, 310 (6%) had been disallowed for failing to attend assessment, 2,000 (36%) had been disallowed for failing to return a PIP2 form and 160 (3%) had been disallowed for other reasons prior to an assessment taking place.

Notes:

• These figures include new claims and Disability Living Allowance (DLA) to PIP reassessment claims.
• It is possible for claims to transition between Normal Rules and SRTI during the claimant journey. Included in these figures are claimants assessed under normal rules at the point of initial decision whose subsequent claim was treated as SRTI at the point of registration.
• These figures include claimants whose case was disallowed at initial decision after assessment, for failing to attend assessment, for failing to return the PIP2 form or for failing lay rules. This does not take into account any mandatory reconsideration or Appeal action so some of these claimants may have subsequently been awarded PIP.
• Only the most recent initial clearance is counted. For example, a claimant may have had multiple disallowances under Normal Rules for different claims. In such a case, only the most recent initial disallowance to the subsequent registration is counted in this data.
• Only the closest subsequent registration to the initial clearance as outlined above is counted. For example, a claimant may have made more than one subsequent claim under SRTI. In such a case, only the closest subsequent registration is counted in this data.
• The point of application is taken as the day the claimant registered a claim to PIP as recorded on the PIP computer system.
• This is unpublished data from the PIP computer system’s (PIP CS) management information. It should be used with caution and it may be subject to future revision.
• Figures are rounded to the nearest 10.
• Figures cover disallowances up to and including 30^th April 2018 and subsequent registrations made up to and including 31^st October 2018.
• There has been a slight adjustment to the figures as presented in Answer 209781 to account for claimants who made multiple applications under both Normal Rules and SRTI.
• 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.

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Written Question

Personal Independence Payment

Monday 18th March 2019

Asked by: Madeleine Moon (Labour - Bridgend)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 1 February 2019 to Question 209780 on Personal Independence Payment, how many personal independence payment claimants who died within three months of their initial application being disallowed had made previous claims that were refused.

Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

Over 3.5 million applications to Personal Independence Payment (PIP) were made between April 2013 and 30^th April 2018 under Normal Rules. Of these, 3,590 claimants died within three months of their initial application being disallowed.

The table below shows the number of PIP claimants who died within three months of their application under normal rules being disallowed and these claimants’ disabilities. The Department only records a claimant’s disability at assessment so does not hold this information where a claimant was disallowed prior to attending an assessment.

Table: PIP claimants under normal rules who died within three months of their application being disallowed, by category of disability (where available)

Disability category	No. claimants with this disability
Autoimmune disease (connective tissue disorders)	10
Cardiovascular disease	90
Diseases of the immune system	#
Diseases of the liver, gallbladder, biliary tract	70
Endocrine disease	50
Gastrointestinal disease	20
Genitourinary disease	30
Haematological Disease	#
Hearing disorders	10
Infectious disease	10
Malignant disease	120
Metabolic disease	#
Musculoskeletal disease (general)	120
Musculoskeletal disease (regional)	110
Neurological disease	120
Psychiatric disorders	400
Respiratory disease	110
Skin disease	10
Unknown or missing	2,310
Visual disease	10
Total	3,590

Source: PIP ADS

630 of these claimants had previously been disallowed at least once in their initial application for PIP.

In addition, 90 claimants who applied under Special Rules for Terminal Illness (SRTI) died within three months of their initial application being disallowed. Of these, 10 had previously been disallowed at least once in their initial application for PIP.

The cause of death of claimants to PIP is not collated centrally by the Department and the recorded condition may not have been the cause of death of the claimant.

Notes:

• These figures include claimants whose initial claim was disallowed after assessment, for failing to attend assessment, for failing to return the PIP2 form or for failing lay rules. This does not take into account any mandatory reconsideration or appeal action so some of these claimants may have subsequently been awarded PIP.
• Figures include both New Claims and reassessments from Disability Living Allowance (DLA).
• The point of initial decision on the application to PIP is taken as the day the DWP decision maker made a decision and recorded it on the PIP computer system.
• This is unpublished data from the PIP computer system’s (PIP CS) management information. It should be used with caution and it may be subject to future revision.
• Figures are rounded to the nearest 10, “#” indicates a total of less than 5 and “three months” has been taken to be 93 days or less.
• Figures cover claims made up to and including 30^th April 2018.
• 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.

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Written Question

Personal Independence Payment

Monday 18th March 2019

Asked by: Madeleine Moon (Labour - Bridgend)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer on 1 February 2019 to Question 209780 on Personal Independence Payment, how many personal independence payment claimants who died within three months of their initial application being disallowed applied under normal rules; and what conditions those claimants had.

Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

Over 3.5 million applications to Personal Independence Payment (PIP) were made between April 2013 and 30^th April 2018 under Normal Rules. Of these, 3,590 claimants died within three months of their initial application being disallowed.

The table below shows the number of PIP claimants who died within three months of their application under normal rules being disallowed and these claimants’ disabilities. The Department only records a claimant’s disability at assessment so does not hold this information where a claimant was disallowed prior to attending an assessment.

Table: PIP claimants under normal rules who died within three months of their application being disallowed, by category of disability (where available)

Disability category	No. claimants with this disability
Autoimmune disease (connective tissue disorders)	10
Cardiovascular disease	90
Diseases of the immune system	#
Diseases of the liver, gallbladder, biliary tract	70
Endocrine disease	50
Gastrointestinal disease	20
Genitourinary disease	30
Haematological Disease	#
Hearing disorders	10
Infectious disease	10
Malignant disease	120
Metabolic disease	#
Musculoskeletal disease (general)	120
Musculoskeletal disease (regional)	110
Neurological disease	120
Psychiatric disorders	400
Respiratory disease	110
Skin disease	10
Unknown or missing	2,310
Visual disease	10
Total	3,590

Source: PIP ADS

630 of these claimants had previously been disallowed at least once in their initial application for PIP.

In addition, 90 claimants who applied under Special Rules for Terminal Illness (SRTI) died within three months of their initial application being disallowed. Of these, 10 had previously been disallowed at least once in their initial application for PIP.

The cause of death of claimants to PIP is not collated centrally by the Department and the recorded condition may not have been the cause of death of the claimant.

Notes:

• These figures include claimants whose initial claim was disallowed after assessment, for failing to attend assessment, for failing to return the PIP2 form or for failing lay rules. This does not take into account any mandatory reconsideration or appeal action so some of these claimants may have subsequently been awarded PIP.
• Figures include both New Claims and reassessments from Disability Living Allowance (DLA).
• The point of initial decision on the application to PIP is taken as the day the DWP decision maker made a decision and recorded it on the PIP computer system.
• This is unpublished data from the PIP computer system’s (PIP CS) management information. It should be used with caution and it may be subject to future revision.
• Figures are rounded to the nearest 10, “#” indicates a total of less than 5 and “three months” has been taken to be 93 days or less.
• Figures cover claims made up to and including 30^th April 2018.
• 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.

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