Asked by: Alicia Kearns (Conservative - Rutland and Stamford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she plans to create an exemption from proposed changes to Personal Independence Payments for people who have been medically retired from the emergency services.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Personal Independence Payment (PIP) assessment considers the needs arising from a long-term health condition or disability, not the health condition or disability itself. The impact in each case will depend on an individual’s circumstances. For those already claiming PIP, the changes will only apply from November 2026 at their next award review, subject to parliamentary approval. People will be reviewed by a trained assessor or healthcare professional and assessed on individual needs and circumstance.
We are also mindful of the impact this could have on people. That is why, in the Green Paper Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working (published on 18 March), we are consulting on how best to support those who lose entitlement due to the reforms, including how to make sure health and eligible care needs are met.
Asked by: Alicia Kearns (Conservative - Rutland and Stamford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of holding a public consultation before implementing the Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Bill.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
DWP continues to seek feedback on the Bill through regular engagement with key stakeholders, including at official and ministerial level. This will ensure the measures are designed to be effective and take into consideration wider feedback from the financial sector, welfare organisations, business representative organisations and others.
There will be Codes of Practice for the Eligibility Verification Measure, Information Gathering and Debt Recovery powers, which DWP will publicly consult on before publication.
Asked by: Alicia Kearns (Conservative - Rutland and Stamford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to her Department's Get Britain Working White Paper, published on 26 November 2024, whether she has plans to review the eligibility of Personal Independence Payments claimants.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
In the Get Britain Working White Paper we announced our intention to reform the system of health and disability benefits. We are working to develop proposals for reform and will set them out in a Green Paper in spring.
We are committed to reforming the system of health and disability benefits so that it promotes and enables employment among as many people as possible. The system must also work to reduce poverty for disabled people and people with health conditions and support disabled people to live independently. It is also vital to ensure that the system is financially sustainable in the long term.
This Government is committed to putting the views and voices of disabled people at the heart of all that we do, so we will consult on these proposals with disabled people and representative organisations.
Asked by: Alicia Kearns (Conservative - Rutland and Stamford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people are eligible for the Winter Fuel Payment in Rutland and Stamford constituency; and what estimate she has made of the number of people who will be eligible under the proposed changed eligibility requirements.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The Pension Credit data that is used is based on the 2010 Westminster Parliamentary constituencies, not 2024, in order to be comparable with the Winter Fuel Payments statistics. Further to the completion of the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, Rutland and Stamford is a newly formed constituency. Therefore, data on Rutland and Stamford constituency is not currently available. The new constituency of Rutland and Stamford includes the following areas: The County of Rutland and the parts of Harborough District, including Thurnby, from the abolished constituency of Rutland and Melton, as well as the town of Stamford and surrounding areas from Grantham and Stamford, which has been largely replaced by Grantham and Bourne. To obtain the below estimates for Rutland and Stamford constituency, data on the previous Rutland and Melton constituency and Grantham and Stamford constituency have been combined.
Before the change in eligibility requirements, an estimated 48,351 people in Rutland and Stamford constituency were eligible for and received Winter Fuel Payments, based on 22/23 Winter Fuel Payment statistics. After the change in eligibility requirements, it is estimated that around 3,365 people in Rutland and Stamford constituency will be eligible for Winter Fuel Payments, based on Feb-24 Pension Credit statistics. This is essentially the number of Pension Credit recipients in Rutland and Stamford constituency and is used as an indicator of how many pensioners will be eligible for Winter Fuel Payment.
The above estimates are likely to be an overestimate as the new Rutland and Stamford constituency consists of some of the areas of the previous Rutland and Melton constituency and the previous Grantham and Stamford constituency, not all.
Also, the above figures do not take into account any potential increase in Pension Credit take-up we might see as a result of the Government’s Pension Credit Awareness Campaign. We do not have data on those additional Pension Credit claims by Parliamentary constituencies or local authorities.
Furthermore, the published Pension Credit figures refer to households, so the number of individuals will be higher (i.e., taking account of households where it is a couple claiming Pension Credit).
In addition to that, Pension Credit claimants are the majority of those that will be eligible for Winter Fuel Payments, not all. There are other pensioners who are eligible for Winter Fuel Payments (as they claim other means tested benefits) but they are not considered in these figures as it is not possible to do so.
Source:
The Winter Fuel Payments statistics are published here:
Winter Fuel Payment statistics for winter 2022 to 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Pension Credit data is published here: Pension Credit – Data from May 2018