Asked by: Josh Babarinde (Liberal Democrat - Eastbourne)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to help reduce delays in processing Personal Independence Payment assessments.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We are committed to ensuring people can access financial support through Personal Independence Payment (PIP) in a timely manner. Reducing customer journey times for PIP claimants is a priority for the Department and we are working constantly to make improvements to our service.
We always aim to make an award decision as quickly as possible, taking into account the need to review all available evidence, including that from the claimant.
The latest statistics show that the average end-to-end journey has reduced from 26 weeks in August 2021 to 16 weeks at the end of January 2025. This is because we’re:
In addition, the Health Transformation Programme (HTP) is modernising Health and Disability benefit services to create a more efficient service, to reduce processing times and improving trust in our services and decisions. As part of this, from July 2023, a limited number of claimants have been able to begin their claim for PIP entirely online.
Asked by: Josh Babarinde (Liberal Democrat - Eastbourne)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to help support employers to create inclusive workplace environments that support people with hidden disabilities to (a) secure and (b) stay in work.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Employers are crucial in enhancing employment opportunities and supporting disabled people and those with health conditions to thrive in the workforce.
The Disability Confident Scheme encourages employers to create disability inclusive workplaces and to support disabled people to get work and get on in work. The scheme covers all disabilities, including hidden disabilities.
In addition, DWP has a digital information service for employers, (www.support-with-employee-health-and-disability.dwp.gov.uk), which provides tailored guidance to businesses to support employees to remain in work. This includes guidance on health disclosures and having conversations about health, plus guidance on legal obligations, including statutory sick pay and making reasonable adjustments.
In January this year, we launched an expert academic panel to advise us on boosting neurodiversity awareness and inclusion at work. The panel will consider the reasons why neurodivergent people have poor experiences in the workplace, and a low overall employment rate, making their recommendations to employers and government in the summer.
The Secretaries of State for Work and Pensions and Business and Trade have asked Sir Charlie Mayfield to lead an independent review, considering how best to support and enable employers to recruit and retain more people with health conditions and disabilities, promote healthy workplaces, and support more people to stay in or return to work from periods of sickness absence. Sir Charlie Mayfield will deliver his final report in the autumn.
Asked by: Josh Babarinde (Liberal Democrat - Eastbourne)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of dispensing PIP payments on a weekly basis.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Payments of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) are made every four weeks in arrears, other than SREL (Special Rules, End of Life) cases, which are paid weekly in advance.
These are set out in legislation.
Asked by: Josh Babarinde (Liberal Democrat - Eastbourne)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make it her policy to consult claimants before making any future changes to (a) Personal Independence Payments, (b) Work Capability Assessments and (c) the Disability Living Allowance.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We are working to develop proposals for health and disability reform in the months ahead and will set them out in a Green Paper ahead of the Spring Statement later this year. This will launch a public consultation on the proposals.
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, where appropriate, with disabled people and representative organisations.
Ahead of the formal consultation for the Green Paper, we have already started to explore ways of engaging with disabled people and their representatives, including through stakeholder roundtables and public visits. We look forward to progressing these initiatives over the coming months.
Asked by: Josh Babarinde (Liberal Democrat - Eastbourne)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if she will reverse the Government’s decision not to provide pension compensation to women who were born in the 1950s and 1960s.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
We carefully considered the Ombudsman’s findings to ensure our decision was fair and based on the evidence.
We have accepted the Ombudsman’s finding that there was a 28-month delay in sending out letters and for this we have apologised. However, we do not agree with the Ombudsman’s approach to injustice or remedy. Full details of the Government’s decision are available here: Government response to Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman’s Investigation into Women’s State Pension age communications and associated issues - GOV.UK
Asked by: Josh Babarinde (Liberal Democrat - Eastbourne)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an assessment of the potential implications for her policies of the recommendations of the report entitled Nothing has changed, published by Citizens Advice Eastbourne in January 2025.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We are committed to reforming the system of health and disability benefits so that it promotes and enables employment amongst as many people as possible. We will set out our proposals in a Health and Disability Green Paper ahead of the Spring Statement. Whilst there will be no specific assessment made from the report, we are 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. We welcome the views of Citizens Advice Eastbourne and all other stakeholders.