Asked by: Desmond Swayne (Conservative - New Forest West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate she has made of the number of employment support allowance recipients that have seen an overall reduction in benefit payments when council tax benefit has been withdrawn following the introduction of support for mortgage interest; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
Council Tax benefit has been replaced with Council Tax reduction schemes, which are the responsibility of Local Authorities (LAs). Most LAs will offer the maximum level of relief for those receiving income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA). The move to SMI loans will mean a very small number of claimants (around 100 across Great Britain) will lose entitlement to income-related ESA and will have to apply for Council Tax reduction on income grounds. It is open to any LA to adjust the way their scheme operates in the unlikely event that this results in any individuals receiving a lower level of support towards their Council Tax payments
Asked by: Desmond Swayne (Conservative - New Forest West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average (a) mode, (b) mean and (c) median time taken for personal independence payments to be made is, from the date on which the application is made.
Answered by Sarah Newton
The information requested is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
However, latest data on median clearance times from registration to DWP decision up until 31st January 2018 can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/personal-independence-payment-april-2013-to-january-2018.The next quarterly release is due to be published on 12th June 2018 which would cover data up to April 2018.
Asked by: Desmond Swayne (Conservative - New Forest West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of recent trends in the level of personal independence payment awards for (a) blind and (b) sight impaired applicants; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Sarah Newton
Personal Independence Payment (PIP) ensures we target support on those with the greatest barriers to living an independent life. PIP is working better for those with a visual impairment compared to the previous benefit, Disability Living Allowance (DLA). Under DLA, 5% of all those with a visual impairment were receiving the top level of support1 [the footnote explains that this is May 2013], whereas 62% of PIP recipients receive the highest rates as at the end of October 2017.”
Of those visually impaired DLA claimants who were aged 16 to 64 on 8 April 2013 and have been reassessed for PIP up to the end of October 2017, 66% are now getting a higher award than they received under DLA and the average weekly PIP award is £116.95 compared to £73.10 under DLA.
Notes:
DLA and PIP data taken from Stat-Xplore (https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk)