Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many claimants who have been sent an ESA50 form have not returned that form by the deadline and have subsequently ceased to be eligible for the assessment rate of employment and support allowance.
The number of claimants disallowed ESA following failure to return form ESA50 (Decision Type: WCA – Failed to return ESA50) is shown in the table below:
ESA Claimants - Failed to return ESA50 2017/18 | ||||||
Disallowed - Failed to return ESA50 | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep |
7,193 | 8,490 | 7,137 | 5,537 | 6,427 | 6,348 | |
Oct | Nov | Dec | Jan | Feb | Mar | |
5,846 | 5,671 | 4,315 | 6,149 | 4,307 | 5,540 |
We know that some claimants who fail to meet the original deadline for submission of their ESA50 subsequently provide good cause. This would lead to their claim being considered and either allowed or disallowed. This means that we cannot take the number of claimants who have been disallowed for failure to return their ESA50 as being the same as the number as those ceasing to be eligible for the assessment rate of Employment Support Allowance (ESA).