Asked by: Karen Lee (Labour - Lincoln)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people with multiple sclerosis in receipt of disability living allowance have been reassessed for personal independence payment in each year since those payments were introduced; and how many of those people have received those payments in each nation of the UK.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
The latest available data on Personal Independence Payment (PIP) clearances split by geographical area within Great Britain (region), by type of clearance (i.e. whether the claim was awarded, disallowed or withdrawn) and by main disabling condition for both new claims and Disability Living Allowance (DLA) reassessment claims for each month from the introduction of PIP in April 2013 to the last available data in January 2019, can be found at https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/
Guidance on how to use Stat-Xplore can be found here: https://sw.stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/index.html
Please note that a PIP claimant’s disability is not recorded until they attend an assessment so the Department does not hold data on how many claimants with a particular condition made an application for PIP. Data on the number of registrations (applications) to PIP each month from April 2013 to January 2019 is available on Stat-Xplore.
Please note that the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) is only responsible for benefits in Great Britain. Social security benefits including PIP are a devolved matter in Northern Ireland and your questions regarding PIP in Northern Ireland should be directed at the Department of Communities in Northern Ireland who are responsible for PIP.
Asked by: Karen Lee (Labour - Lincoln)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans her Department has in place to avoid unnecessary repeat assessments for benefit applicants with special needs.
Answered by Sarah Newton
Since September 2017, Employment and Support Allowance claimants who have the most severe/lifelong conditions and that meet the Severe Conditions Criteria are not required to attend further routine reassessments. Furthermore, in August 2018, we introduced updated guidance for Personal Independence Payment (PIP) case managers which will ensure that those who receive the highest level of support under PIP, and whose needs are unlikely to change or may get worse, will now receive an ongoing award with a light touch review at the ten year point.
Asked by: Karen Lee (Labour - Lincoln)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he plans to implement a helpline number for hon. Members' constituency offices for casework inquiries relating to Universal Credit.
Answered by Lord Sharma
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer provided to Question 6374 on 5 September 2017 by the then Minister of State for Employment, Damian Hinds.
Asked by: Karen Lee (Labour - Lincoln)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of the effect of the changes made to the Widowed Parent's Allowance on the long-term financial security of widowed spouses.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
Current recipients of Widowed Parent’s Allowance will continue to receive that benefit for the natural lifetime of their award. There will be no change in payments of Widowed Parent’s Allowance to these claimants.
Bereavement Support Payment (BSP) replaced Widowed Parent’s Allowance for those whose spouse or civil partner died on or after 6 April 2017.
BSP is designed to provide targeted support to help with the immediate costs of bereavement without affecting access to financial help towards everyday living costs.
It is for this reason that BSP is paid in addition to income related benefits, is not taxable and is not taken into account when calculating income for the benefit cap. These measures protect the financial security of the least well off families and ensure that they are not disadvantaged by the reform.
Asked by: Karen Lee (Labour - Lincoln)
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 effect of the reduction in funding for Lincoln’s Citizens Advice on the provision of advice to claimants of Universal Credit in Lincoln.
Answered by Lord Sharma
The Department does not directly fund Lincoln’s Citizens Advice to provide Universal Support.
For 2017/18, we estimated the City of Lincoln Council’s funding to help them provide Universal Support to Universal Credit claimants to be £4,107, and for 2018/19 we are increasing this funding to £11,131 to reflect that the City of Lincoln went live with Universal Credit full service on 7 March 2018.
The City of Lincoln Council has full discretion as to whether they provide this Universal Support themselves or contract out to another organisation, such as Citizens Advice.
Any such sub-contraction is a matter between the council and the sub-contractor.