Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder who previously received disability living allowance have been successful in their application for personal independence payments.
Answered by Sarah Newton
Up to January 2018, 47,410 people with Autism, Asperger’s syndrome or Retts disorder as their main disabling condition on PIP were awarded PIP following a reassessment from DLA.
Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps have been taken to ensure that staff conducting the medical assessments of personal independence payment applicants understand the (a) care and (b) mobility needs of people diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder.
Answered by Sarah Newton
The Personal Independence Payment assessment is not a medical assessment requiring the Health Professional to diagnose a condition and recommend treatment options. The focus is on ensuring Health Professionals are experts in disability analysis, focusing on the effects of health conditions and impairments on a claimant’s daily life.
All Health Professionals undertaking Personal Independent Payment assessments must be registered practitioners who have met requirements around training and competence. Their comprehensive training includes detailed modules covering all aspects of autism. In addition, they carry out simulated assessments to enable Health Professionals to understand how the condition can impact on a person’s ability to undertake the activities in the assessment.
Both Assessment Providers employ specialist practitioners who have at least 2 years of post-registration clinical experience in either a mental health or learning disability role. They are available to provide support and advice to Health Professionals on particular conditions including autism. To strengthen, review and update their training, the Assessment Providers continue to engage with a range of stakeholders including the National Autistic Society.
Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many claimants of Support for Mortgage Interest (SMI) received less than two months notice of the closure of SMI.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
Data on the number of claimants who will have less than 2 months’ notice of the introduction of SMI on 6 April 2018 is not available. A managed information provision process began in July 2017 to inform all existing recipients of SMI benefit of the new scheme. The regulations contain provision for all claimants to be given at least 6 weeks from the loan offer to make a decision whether to accept or decline an SMI loan before their SMI benefit payments cease. This 6 week period may run beyond 6 April 2018.
Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
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 ending of Support for Mortgage Interest (SMI) on (a) homeowners who are recipients of SMI and (b) mortgage lenders if claimants do not take up the Government loan scheme.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
Support for Mortgage Interest (SMI) is not ending. The scheme will continue to provide financial support owner-occupiers in times of need in exactly the same way as it does now. Claimants and mortgage lenders will not see any difference in the payments they receive. The only difference is that we will require repayment of the loan once the property is sold, subject to there being sufficient equity available. Mortgage lenders will be notified when a claimant's SMI benefit payments cease. Lenders are required under Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) regulations to engage with borrowers to discuss how they will meet their loan commitments.
Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many complaints have been made to his Department about Capita assessments for personal independence payments in each of the last five years.
Answered by Sarah Newton
When the Department receives a complaint regarding a Personal Independence Payment (PIP) assessment these are passed directly to Capita to provide a response. DWP do not collect data on these cases. Capita advise that they have received the following complaints regarding PIP: 2013 - 16.5% of caseload; 2014 - 3.8% caseload; 2015 – 1.1% caseload; 2016 – 1.5% caseload and 2017 (to October) - 1.6% caseload. These are inclusive of those cases received by DWP and forwarded on to Capita.
Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people who previously qualified for disability living allowance have not been awarded personal independence payments following assessments by Capita.
Answered by Sarah Newton
DWP case managers make decisions on all claims based on the PIP2 questionnaire completed by the claimant, any additional evidence they have submitted, the report from the assessment provider and any additional information the assessment provider has requested, for example information from the claimant’s GP.
The table below shows the number of claimants who have undergone a Disability Living Allowance (DLA) to Personal Independence Payment (PIP) reassessment with our assessment providers, IAS and Capita. We previously answered this question for IAS under PQ 109416.
Table 1: Outcomes of DLA to PIP reassessments after assessment by Assessment Provider to 31st July 2017
Disallowed After Assessment | Awarded | Total | Disallowance Rate | |
IAS (Atos) | 125,680 | 523,800 | 649,480 | 19% |
Capita | 64,280 | 198,220 | 262,500 | 24% |
Total | 189,960 | 722,020 | 911,980 | 21% |
The figures are the outcome of the first DWP decision on each DLA to PIP reassessment claim assessed under Normal Rules only, prior to any reconsideration, appeal action and award review, after the claimant underwent an assessment by IAS or Capita. Figures include decisions made between 8th April 2013 and 31st July 2017 as recorded on Department systems. Figures have been rounded to the nearest 10 and are for Great Britain only.
The Department is committed to ensuring PIP claimants receive a high quality functional assessment. We continue to work closely to ensure a consistent approach is being taken across the country.
We closely monitor assessment providers to make sure that the quality of the service, that the nurses, physiotherapists and other health professionals who carry out the assessments provide, is as high as it should be. We are continually working with the assessment providers to further improve the quality of assessments, including clinical coaching, feedback and support available to each assessor. The Department has put in place an independent audit of assessments to ensure that the advice provided to the Department's decision makers is of suitable quality, fully explained and justified. In addition, there are other safeguards in place to ensure correct decisions are made, such as DWP decision makers being able to ask the provider for clarification or advice or returning the report to the provider if they believe that it does not provide sufficient information for them to make a decision.
Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of any difference between the proportion of personal independence payment claims that are unsuccessful following assessment by Atos and Capita.
Answered by Sarah Newton
DWP case managers make decisions on all claims based on the PIP2 questionnaire completed by the claimant, any additional evidence they have submitted, the report from the assessment provider and any additional information the assessment provider has requested, for example information from the claimant’s GP.
The table below shows the number of claimants who have undergone a Disability Living Allowance (DLA) to Personal Independence Payment (PIP) reassessment with our assessment providers, IAS and Capita. We previously answered this question for IAS under PQ 109416.
Table 1: Outcomes of DLA to PIP reassessments after assessment by Assessment Provider to 31st July 2017
Disallowed After Assessment | Awarded | Total | Disallowance Rate | |
IAS (Atos) | 125,680 | 523,800 | 649,480 | 19% |
Capita | 64,280 | 198,220 | 262,500 | 24% |
Total | 189,960 | 722,020 | 911,980 | 21% |
The figures are the outcome of the first DWP decision on each DLA to PIP reassessment claim assessed under Normal Rules only, prior to any reconsideration, appeal action and award review, after the claimant underwent an assessment by IAS or Capita. Figures include decisions made between 8th April 2013 and 31st July 2017 as recorded on Department systems. Figures have been rounded to the nearest 10 and are for Great Britain only.
The Department is committed to ensuring PIP claimants receive a high quality functional assessment. We continue to work closely to ensure a consistent approach is being taken across the country.
We closely monitor assessment providers to make sure that the quality of the service, that the nurses, physiotherapists and other health professionals who carry out the assessments provide, is as high as it should be. We are continually working with the assessment providers to further improve the quality of assessments, including clinical coaching, feedback and support available to each assessor. The Department has put in place an independent audit of assessments to ensure that the advice provided to the Department's decision makers is of suitable quality, fully explained and justified. In addition, there are other safeguards in place to ensure correct decisions are made, such as DWP decision makers being able to ask the provider for clarification or advice or returning the report to the provider if they believe that it does not provide sufficient information for them to make a decision.
Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of employment and support allowance claimants were also residents of supported housing in the last 12 months.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The Department does not collect administrative data on the proportion of employment and support allowance claimants who were also residents in supported housing in the last 12 months.
The Government recently announced plans for a new flexible funding approach for supported housing. As part of this it has launched two consultations seeking views on the details of the models.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/funding-for-supported-housing
Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of residents of supported housing claim Employment and Support Allowance.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The Department does not collect administrative data on the number and proportion of supported housing residents that also claim Employment and Support Allowance.
The Government recently announced plans for a new flexible funding approach for supported housing. As part of this it has launched two consultations seeking views on the details of the models.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/funding-for-supported-housing
Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people who previously qualified for disability living allowance have not been awarded personal independence payments following assessments by Atos.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
DWP case managers make decisions on all claims based on the PIP2 questionnaire completed by the claimant, any additional evidence they have submitted, the report from the assessment provider and any additional information the assessment provider has requested, for example information from the claimant’s GP.
Up to 31st July 2017, 649,480 claimants underwent a Disability Living Allowance (DLA) to Personal Independence Payment (PIP) reassessment with Independent Assessment Services (IAS), previously known as Atos. Of these claimants, 125,680 were disallowed PIP and 523,800 were awarded PIP by the department.
Source: PIP Computer System claimant records.
Notes:
The figures are the outcome of the first DWP decision on each DLA to PIP reassessment claim assessed under Normal Rules only, prior to any reconsideration, appeal action and award review, after the claimant underwent an assessment by IAS. Figures include decisions made between 8th April 2013 and 31st July 2017 as recorded on Department systems. Figures have been rounded to the nearest 10 and are for Great Britain only.