Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 28 April 2025 to Question 46071 on Personal Independence Payments: Veterans, when she plans to launch a wider review of the PIP assessment.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
In our Green Paper, Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working, we announced plans to launch a process to review the PIP assessment. We will bring together a range of experts, stakeholders and people with lived experience to consider how best to do this and to start the process as part of preparing for a review. Timings for the review have not yet been confirmed. Any changes to the PIP assessment will need to work alongside the reforms set out in the Green Paper and we will provide further details as plans progress.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many (a) phones, (b) laptops and (c) other electronic devices have been lost by their Department since 5 July 2024.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Please see below details of electronic devices reported lost or stolen to the Department for the period 5 July 2024 – 22 April 2025. The Department does not distinguish between lost and stolen when recording details.
Mobile Phones | 18 |
iPhones | 105 |
Laptops | 191 |
Camera | 1 |
iPad | 4 |
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to ensure that veterans with fluctuating (a) physical and (b) mental health conditions will not be disproportionately disadvantaged by proposed changes to Personal Independence Payment eligibility criteria.
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.
Veterans are able to access the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme (AFCS), which provides compensation for injury or illness caused or made worse by Service on or after 6 April 2005. For serious injuries and illness, the AFCS provides a tax-free index-linked income stream known as the Guaranteed Income Payment (GIP). The Armed Forces Independence Payment (AFIP) is an additional allowance which provides financial support for eligible service personnel and veterans who have an AFCS GIP. It is an alternative to PIP (and other disability benefits), based on separate eligibility criteria, but paid at the same rate as the combined enhanced daily living and mobility components. The eligibility criteria for AFIP is not due to change.
I have also asked my officials to work with their counterparts in the OVA to set up a dedicated Green Paper consultation event for armed forces stakeholders (likely to be held in May) and to give a detailed briefing on the proposals to MoD and OVA officials. And once we have completed the consultation we will be building up to a White Paper, where we will once again engage with the OVA and MoD in advance of collective agreement.
We are also mindful of the impact the change to PIP eligibility 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: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of proposed changes to Personal Independent Payment eligibility criteria on veterans with (a) fluctuating and (b) continuous service-related (i) mental and (ii) physical health conditions.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department does not centrally record the veteran status of PIP claimants.
In our recent Pathways to Work Green Paper, published on the 18 March 2025, we announced a broad package of reforms to the health and disability benefit and support system. No changes are proposed to Armed Forces Independence Payments which provide support to some of the most severely disabled veterans.
For those who receive PIP and are affected by the eligibility changes, we are consulting on how best to support this group, including how to make sure health and eligible care needs are met. We also intend to launch a wider review of the PIP assessment, and we will bring 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.
As we develop proposals further, we will consider the impacts of changes as part of our wider consideration of responses to the Green Paper consultation. We would encourage organisations supporting and representing veterans, such as the Royal British Legion, SSAFA, and many others, to respond to the consultation setting out their thoughts and views on how wounded, injured and sick veterans can best be supported.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the recently proposed welfare reforms on veterans.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
In our recent Pathways to Work Green Paper, published on the 18 March 2025, we announced a broad package of reforms to the health and disability benefit and support system. No changes are proposed to Armed Forces Independence Payments which provide support to some of the most severely disabled veterans.
For those who receive PIP and are affected by the eligibility changes, we are consulting on how best to support this group, including how to make sure health and eligible care needs are met. We also intend to launch a wider review of the PIP assessment, and we will bring 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.
As we develop proposals further, we will consider the impacts of changes as part of our wider consideration of responses to the Green Paper consultation. We would encourage organisations supporting and representing veterans, such as the Royal British Legion, SSAFA, and many others, to respond to the consultation setting out their thoughts and views on how wounded, injured and sick veterans can best be supported.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Chancellor of the Exchequer's Oral Statement of 29 July 2024 on Public Spending: Inheritance, Official Report, columns 1033-1040, how many Pension Credit claims have been awarded since the changes in the eligibility criteria for the Winter Fuel Payment were announced.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
On 27 February 2025 we published Pension Credit applications and award statistics. This publication provides application and award volumes up to 23 February 2025. Pension Credit Applications and Awards - February 2025.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of foreign national offenders receive benefits.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department does not hold the information requested.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of Afghan nationals with Indefinite Leave to Remain are claiming unemployment benefits.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department does not hold the requested information on how many and what proportion of Afghan nationals with Indefinite Leave to Remain are claiming unemployment benefits.
The Department checks immigration status when assessing eligibility, but this information is not collated centrally and hence not readily available. The Department is exploring the feasibility of developing suitable official statistics related to the immigration status of non-UK / Irish Universal Credit customers.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of people claiming out of work benefit for sickness reasons have done so immediately following leaving full-time education.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what progress she has made on implementing the Disability Action Plan.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Disability Action Plan and the National Disability Strategy were both initiatives of the previous administration. The National Disability Strategy was delayed as it was originally declared unlawful, due to a challenge as to whether an information gathering exercise constituted a consultation. The Court of Appeal later overturned the original High Court declaration. This Government is committed to championing the rights of disabled people. We will build on the insights shared by disabled people and their representative organisations, working closely with them so that their views and voices are at the heart of everything we do.
We will provide further updates on the Government’s priorities for disability policy in due course.