Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the financial effect on students in receipt of personal independence payments (PIP) caused by her policy that students in receipt of PIP who are studying abroad must return to the UK every 12 weeks in order to not lose their rights to their benefits.

The rules allowing for temporary absence abroad apply to Attendance Allowance, Carer’s Allowance, Disability Living Allowance and Personal Independence Payment and were subject to consultation in 2012 (https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/dla-reform-and-pip-completing-the-detailed-design). Under that consultation we had originally proposed a temporary absence rule of four weeks. However, respondents to the consultation told us that the time period was too short and would negatively impact on certain people such as:

• Full time students studying abroad as part of their degree course
• People volunteering abroad
• Disabled athletes travelling to race meetings/competitions
• Those undertaking summer internships
• Disabled people who require extra time to travel and recuperate

As a consequence of this consultation, and the suggestions received, we amended our proposal so that a period of 13 weeks would be allowed. This period of time was chosen in part to cover term time absences for students and also to allow people a longer period to visit families living abroad where a long journey may be required.