Asked by: Nicholas Dakin (Labour - Scunthorpe)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people with (a) leukaemia, (b) myeloma, (c) Hodgkin's lymphoma and (d) non-Hodgkin's lymphoma have (i) been reassessed from disability living allowance to personal independence payment and (ii) received reduced rates of award.
Answered by Sarah Newton
Personal Independence Payment (PIP) has different eligibility criteria to Disability Living Allowance (DLA), and takes a more holistic view of a person’s health condition or disability and the impact it has on their ability to live an independent life. Therefore, when a DLA claimant is invited to claim PIP and is reassessed, the level of their award may stay the same, go up, down or cease altogether depending on their assessed level of need. It is important to note that the claimant may no longer have the condition recorded in the DLA system when they apply for PIP.
We introduced PIP to replace the outdated DLA system. PIP is a fairer benefit, which takes a much wider look at the way an individual’s health condition or disability impacts them on a daily basis. Under PIP, 30 per cent of claimants are receiving the highest possible support, compared with just 15 per cent under DLA.
3,480 DLA claimants with Leukaemia have been reassessed from DLA to PIP and of this 1,080 received a reduced award amount on PIP compared to DLA, 840 were disallowed PIP post referral to the Assessment Provider and 140 were disallowed PIP pre-referral to the Assessment Provider.
520 DLA claimants with Myeloma have been reassessed from DLA to PIP and of this 200 received a reduced award amount on PIP compared to DLA, 70 were disallowed PIP post referral to the Assessment Provider and 10 were disallowed PIP pre-referral to the Assessment Provider.
300 DLA claimants with Hodgkin's lymphoma have been reassessed from DLA to PIP and of this 100 received a reduced award amount on PIP compared to DLA, 90 were disallowed PIP post referral to the Assessment Provider and 20 were disallowed PIP pre-referral to the Assessment Provider.
660 DLA claimants with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma have been reassessed from DLA to PIP and of this 240 received a reduced award amount on PIP compared to DLA, 160 were disallowed PIP post referral to the Assessment Provider and 20 were disallowed PIP pre-referral to the Assessment Provider.
Notes
Asked by: Nicholas Dakin (Labour - Scunthorpe)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to Answer of 5 November to Question 907432, how much discretionary housing payment was (a) awarded to and (b) spent by North Lincolnshire Council in each of the last three years.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
The table below shows the amount awarded to and spent by North Lincolnshire Council in Discretionary Housing Payments in the last 3 financial years:
Year | Awarded | Spent |
2015/16 | £240,930 | £39,626 |
2016/17 | £294,816 | £50,735 |
2017/18 | £395,413 | £84,105 |
Figures on the amount of Discretionary Housing Payments awarded to and spent by Local Authorities are available:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/discretionary-housing-payments-statistics
Asked by: Nicholas Dakin (Labour - Scunthorpe)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people with (a) leukaemia, (b) myeloma, (c) Hodgkin's lymphoma and (d) non-Hodgkin's lymphoma have successfully appealed against a decision not to award personal independence payment.
Answered by Sarah Newton
Since Personal Independence Payment (PIP) was introduced up to June 2018, there have been:
(a) 60 successful appeals against a decision not to award PIP by people with a primary disabling condition of leukaemia,
(b) 30 successful appeals against a decision not to award PIP by people with a primary disabling condition of myeloma,
(c) 20 successful appeals against a decision not to award PIP by people with a primary disabling condition of Hodgkin’s lymphoma and
(d) 40 successful appeals against a decision not to award PIP by people with a primary disabling condition of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
Data has been rounded to the nearest 10.
Data is based on primary disabling condition as recorded on the PIP computer systems. Claimants may often have multiple disabling conditions upon which the decision is based but only the primary condition is shown in these statistics.
The appeals may include decisions which are changed at mandatory reconsideration, and where the claimant continues to appeal for a higher PIP award, are then changed again at tribunal appeal.
Asked by: Nicholas Dakin (Labour - Scunthorpe)
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 effectiveness of discretionary housing payments in supporting tenants through periods of difficulty.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
The purpose of Discretionary Housing Payments is to provide support with housing costs for those entitled to Housing Benefit or the housing costs element of Universal Credit that are experiencing difficulty in meeting their rental costs. Research with Local Authorities undertaken by the Department has shown that DHPs are awarded to claimants in times of difficulty including a crisis or change of circumstances.
Further information on how DHPs are used by Local Authorities can be found in:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/local-authority-insight-research-wave-32
Asked by: Nicholas Dakin (Labour - Scunthorpe)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many complaints on pensions have been received from women born in the 1950s.
Answered by Guy Opperman
As of the 10 October 2018, the Independent Case Examiner’s Office had received 4,085 complaints from women born in the 1950s concerning changes to State Pension age.
Asked by: Nicholas Dakin (Labour - Scunthorpe)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many complaints from women born in the 1950s have had a final decision communicated to such women.
Answered by Guy Opperman
As of the 10 October 2018, 172 investigations have been concluded and decisions then communicated by the Independent Case Examiner, into complaints from women born in the 1950s concerning change to State Pension age.
Asked by: Nicholas Dakin (Labour - Scunthorpe)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many complaints on pensions from women born in the 1950s are waiting to be processed to a complaint agreement.
Answered by Guy Opperman
As of 10th October 2018, there were 780 complaints received by the Independent Case Examiner’s Office from women born in the 1950s concerning change to State Pension age, which are awaiting checks to establish whether they can be accepted for examination.
Asked by: Nicholas Dakin (Labour - Scunthorpe)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many complaints from women born in the 1950s are being considered by the Independent Case Examiner.
Answered by Guy Opperman
We have interpreted this as a request for information about the total number of live complaints currently being considered by the Independent Case Examiner’s Office, from women born in the 1950s regarding changes to State Pension age. As at the 11 September 2018, the Independent Case Examiner’s Office had 3,214 such complaints under consideration, at various stages of its process.