Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if she will permanently increase transitional payments for the severe disability premium to £183 per month and provide similar protections to disabled children, disabled adults under 25 and parents under 25.

Our draft regulations setting out our proposals for managed migration and the consideration of Transitional Protection were sent to the Social Security Advisory Committee in June 2018. These include provisions to help provide financial support for existing and former Severe Disability Premium recipients.

The details set out in the UC draft managed migration regulations confirm that we are spending £3.1 billion on Transitional Protections for 1.3 million claimants, to ensure that no one loses out at the point of transition.

We are also spending an additional £1.4 billion on protection for 500,000 claimants receiving Severe Disability Premium; these regulations will prevent these claimants from moving over before the managed migration process, and provide financial protection for those who have already moved over.

The Committee referred these for a formal public consultation. We are currently considering the Committee’s report on the result of this consultation together with their recommendations with regard to our proposals. We will be issuing that report and our response to it when we bring the draft regulations before Parliament in the autumn.