Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department it taking to help ensure that disabled people have access to reasonable adjustments in the workplace.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
All employers have a duty under the Equality Act 2010 to make ‘reasonable adjustments’ in the workplace where a disabled person would otherwise be put at a substantial disadvantage compared with their colleagues. The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is responsible for enforcing the Equality Act and providing guidance on reasonable adjustments.
For disabled people who require adjustments which are beyond reasonable adjustments, Access to Work (AtW) can provide a grant for the disability related extra costs of working a disabled employee may face. To support employers an AtW case manager will contact the customer’s employer ahead of making an AtW award to offer advice on reasonable adjustments an employer can provide and the support available under the AtW scheme.
DWP has worked with stakeholders to develop a series of Adjustments Passports and Planners to support disabled people, and those with a health condition, with the transitions into employment and between jobs. The Adjustments Passport and Planners provide individuals with an up to date document of their adjustments and working requirements and empower the holder to have more structured conversations about their disability with their employer. They also raise awareness of Access to Work, and where an application is made, help to reduce the need for another assessment, enabling support to be put in place more quickly.
The Disability Confident scheme provides employers with the knowledge, skills, and confidence they need to attract, recruit, retain and develop disabled people in the workplace. When an employer signs-up to the Disability Confident scheme, they agree to commitments which include anticipating and providing reasonable adjustments as required. They also agree to support any existing employee who acquires a disability or long-term health condition, enabling them to stay in work. The scheme provides resources for members including the recently published Disability Confident Manager’s Guide which explains how managers can make and review reasonable adjustments, consider flexible working, and includes examples of other types of adjustments.
As part of the government's response to the Health is Everyone’s Business Consultation, DWP has developed a digital service for employers, offering tailored guidance on health and disability. The service is called Support with Employee Health and Disability and is live across GB, testing very well with employers. Developed with small and medium enterprise (SME) employers, using user centred design principles, the service offers a simple, interactive and highly usable resource which helps employers to feel more confident having conversations about health and disability, as well as understanding and fulfilling their legal obligations on topics such as reasonable adjustments, and signposting to sources of expert support.
The fit note includes an option to allow a healthcare professional to indicate that a patient ‘may be fit for work subject to the following advice’ and provide general details of the functional effect of the individual’s condition and recommend common types of workplace adjustments. However, over 10 million fit notes each year are issued in England without any such advice, resulting in a missed opportunity to help people get the appropriate support they may need to remain in work.
That is why we announced funding in the 2023 Autumn Statement to test new ways of providing individuals receiving a fit note with tailored support, including referral to support through their local WorkWell service pilot. To support this, we launched a Call for Evidence to seek views on how the current fit note process works and the support required to facilitate meaningful work and health conversations and help people start, stay and succeed in work.
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Prime Minister’s speech on welfare of 19 April 2024, who the specialist work and health professionals are that will be responsible for issuing fit notes.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The trailblazers announced at Autumn Statement 2023 will be delivered in NHS Integrated Care Systems and fit notes will continue to be issued by the registered healthcare professionals working within the NHS who are specified in legislation – Doctors, Nurses, Pharmacists, Physiotherapists and Occupational Therapists.
Our ambition is to co-develop a new fit note process delivered through multi-disciplinary teams, bringing together the issuing of fit notes with health and work advice to support people who are at risk of falling out of work or who have already fallen out of work due to ill health.
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to his Department's publication entitled Transforming Support: The Health and Disability White Paper, published on 16 March 2023, what progress his Department has made on testing matching a Personal Independent Payment applicant’s primary health condition to a specialist assessor; and when he plans to publish the findings.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Health and Disability White Paper, published in March 2023, set out ambitious and extensive reforms to further support disabled people including exploring the initiative referred to as “Specialist Assessors”.
As the term “specialist” has a very specific meaning in a medical context, the decision has been made to rename the initiative to “Condition Focused Assessors” to avoid misalignment with clinical definitions. The ambition and intent of the initiative remains the same.
In September 2023, we began a small-scale test matching certain PIP claimants’ primary health condition to an existing healthcare professional (HCP) with relevant clinical experience. This test ran until January 2024, at which point it was expanded to cover claimants with multiple conditions.
We continue to work closely with key stakeholders and support organisations as we progress our testing. Initial exploratory research will be published later this year. The Health Transformation Programme looks to publish evaluation when services are suitably developed, and when findings are robust and provide a representative picture of our progress.
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he has taken to inform recipients of the (a) limited capability for work-related activity element of Universal Credit and (b) Employment and Support Allowance support group of their potential entitlement to Personal Independence Payment.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
DWP Work Coaches and Disability Advisers can signpost and support claimants who may be eligible for other benefits. Signposting is also performed by Citizens Advice Bureau, Disability Groups, healthcare professionals and Welfare Rights organisations.
Information for those who want to know more about DWP benefits is also available on GOV.UK and via social media.
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to his Department's publication entitled Transforming Support: The Health and Disability White Paper, published on 16 March 2023, what progress his Department has made on the test of the feasibility of sharing assessment reports with Personal Independent Payment applicants before a decision is made; and when he plans to publish the findings.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We are currently conducting a test to understand the impact of sharing assessment reports with PIP claimants by default. As part of the evaluation, we will gather insight from claimants to understand whether sharing the assessment report provides them with the opportunity to clarify evidence so that we can make the right decision as early as possible and improve trust and transparency in the decision-making process. Once the analysis of that insight is complete, we will consider next steps.
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 11 January 2023 to Question 7225 on Personal Independence Payment: Appeals, if he will publish the (a) number and proportion of personal independence payment claims overturned by Tribunal, broken down by primary reason, and (b) feedback provided by his Department's Presenting Officers for each of the last three years.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The table below shows the number of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) decisions overturned at Tribunal by reason between January 2021 and September 2023.
These figures are the result of a complex data match across a number of data sets. This data is unpublished data and should therefore be used with caution, as it may be subject to future revision.
To note, this information is taken from Decision Notices and recorded on the PIP computer system.
This data only provides one reason per appeal why decisions by DWP decision makers have been overturned at a tribunal hearing, and therefore may not give the full story as there may be other or multiple reasons.
Appeals data is taken from the DWP PIP computer system’s management information. Therefore, this appeal data may differ from that held by Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service for various reasons such as delays in data recording and other methodological differences in collating and preparing statistics.
As with all DWP processes, we continuously review and have made improvements to our decision-making processes to help ensure we make the right decision as early as possible in the claim journey. We have introduced a new approach to decision making at both the initial decision and the Mandatory Reconsideration stage, giving Decision Makers additional time to proactively contact customers where they think additional evidence may support the claim.
The feedback from Presenting Officers is done on a case-by-case basis and only at a local level. Whilst trends are identified to help inform future decision making - this includes feeding back to Healthcare Professionals - there are no plans to consolidate and publish the feedback in data recording and other methodological differences in collating and preparing statistics.
Summary reason DWP decision | Appeal Clearance Year | ||
2021 | 2022 | 2023 (up to September) | |
New written evidence provided at hearing | 400 | 200 | 300 |
Cogent Oral Evidence | 8,800 | 8,800 | 11,800 |
Reached a Different Conclusion on | 16,300 | 16,700 | 17,500 |
Other | 1,900 | 1,900 | 2,000 |
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when the new Minister for Disabled People, Health and Work plans to outline her priorities for supporting disabled people.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
This Governments priorities on supporting disabled people remains unchanged. We will continue to build on our strong track record, which includes supporting over two million more disabled people into work
Our multi-billion pound support plans announced at Autumn Statement will further help millions more disabled people and those with health conditions, including those with long-term sickness, to start, stay, and succeed in work.
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he has made an estimate of the number of households that will be subject to the benefit cap due to (a) increases in the local housing allowance and (b) the uprating of benefits in 2024-25.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
No estimate has been made. There are various factors that determine whether a household is brought into scope of the benefit cap.
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he has made an estimate of the number of households that will be subject to the benefit cap due to proposed changes to the work capability assessment descriptors in 2025-26.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
No estimate has been made. There are various factors that determine whether a household is brought into scope of the benefit cap.
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to his Department's publication entitled Sanctioned disengaged claimants management information April 2019 to August 2023, published on 12 December 2023, how many and what proportion of claimants with a universal credit nil award who were disengaged for six months or more were receiving housing benefit as a result of living in (a) temporary accommodation and (b) supported accommodation in August 2023.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
To provide this information would incur disproportionate costs due to linking the data.