Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 5 February 2018 to Question 125988, for what reasons personal independence payment claimants are not given the full list of descriptors against which they are assessed; and if she will make a statement.

Claimants to Personal Independence Payment are not provided with a list of descriptors because the PIP2 questionnaire, “How your disability affects you”, was designed to allow claimants to tell us, in their own words, how their health condition or disability impacts them on a day-to-day basis. The questionnaire, which was co-produced with the assistance of disabled people, carers and organisations supporting them, is accompanied by a leaflet that helps claimants complete the form. The assessment activities and descriptors used in PIP can be found in part 2 of the PIP Assessment Guide available on www.gov.uk: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/665635/pip-assessment-guide-part-2-assessment-criteria.pdf