Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to support severely disabled people who will never be able to work in a) Newcastle-under-Lyme and b) Staffordshire.

The Severe Conditions Criteria (SCC) are used to identify and apply to people with the most severe, lifelong health conditions or disabilities, who are unlikely to improve, who are not expected to ever be able to work, and for whom reassessments are unlikely to provide further new information.

Rather than being defined through a list of specific medical conditions, the SCC are considered as part of the Work Capability Assessment. This gives individuals the best opportunity to share with us the most up-to-date information about the functional impacts of their condition.

From 6 April 2026, most claimants who declare a health condition or disability and are found to have LCWRA receive the lower rate of £217.26 per month. This rate is frozen until 2029/30. Those who meet the SCC or the Special Rules for End of Life will receive the higher LCWRA rate of £429.80 per month, no matter when they start claiming the benefit – supporting customers in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, and nationwide.