Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether disabled people who go into debt because of long delays in processing their personal independence payment claims will be able to receive assistance from the Government to help pay off the interest on their debts.

Most claimants to personal independence payment (PIP) will already be receiving some element of financial support to meet day-to-day living expenses, for example through earnings or through receipt of income maintenance benefits such as employment and support allowance. No successful new claimant to PIP will lose out financially as claims will be backdated. Additionally, disability living allowance (DLA) claimants claiming PIP continue to receive their DLA while the PIP claim is being assessed.