Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department has taken to monitor the effect on provision of (a) Blue Badges, (b) Carers' Allowance and (c) other interlinked support for people waiting longer than initially planned by his Department for decisions on personal independence payment claims.

The Department continues to monitor the effect of personal independence payment (PIP) on directly linked, passported benefits including carer’s allowance. As long as a carer claims carer’s allowance (CA) within 3 months of the PIP decision date, CA can be backdated to the date PIP became payable from. If a carer is already in receipt of CA they can continue to receive payment where the person they care for is an existing recipient of disability living allowance and they are in the process of claiming PIP.

The Department does not monitor the effect of PIP on the Blue Badge scheme or other support which can be provided irrespective of receipt of PIP.