Asked by: Steve Baker (Conservative - Wycombe)
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 exempt people of state pension age in receipt of disability living allowance from further reassessments for that allowance; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
Everyone who was in receipt of Disability Living Allowance (DLA) on 8 April 2013 and was under the age of 65 will be invited to claim Personal Independence Payment (PIP), even if they are over the age of 65 when invited to claim. We have no plans to change these rules as we complete reassessment activity for adult DLA recipients.
DLA recipients who were 65 or over on 8 April 2013 will not be invited to claim PIP and will remain on DLA for as long as the entitlement conditions remain satisfied.
Asked by: Steve Baker (Conservative - Wycombe)
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 effect of welfare changes on disabled people in the last 10 years.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
We are spending £55 billion a year on benefits to support disabled people and people with health conditions. That’s a record high and up £10 billion in real terms since 2010. Spending on disability benefits will be higher in every year to 2023 than 2010.
Asked by: Steve Baker (Conservative - Wycombe)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make it his policy to conduct research into whether timely and accurate administration of benefits affects the level of use of food banks.
Answered by Damian Hinds
In the last five years we have made significant improvements in the service we provide and as a consequence benefits are paid faster than ever before; at the same time some food banks have reported increases in the amount of food supplies that they issue. Reasons for food bank use are complex and overlapping so it is misleading to link them to any one issue.
Asked by: Steve Baker (Conservative - Wycombe)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to ensure that all benefit applications are processed within five working days.
Answered by Damian Hinds
All claims for benefit are processed as quickly as possible and individual expectations on the number of days this takes is tailored across all our different products and services.
We are now processing benefits more quickly and accurately with 90% of key out-of-work benefits processed within planned timescales in 2015/16.
Where claimants are in urgent financial need and have claimed Jobseekers Allowance, Income Support, Employment and Support Allowance, Carers Allowance, Pension Credit and State Pension they can apply for an advance on their first benefit payment. This is called a Short Term Benefit Advance.