Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 1 February 2019 to Question 209776 on Personal Independence Payment, how many of the 56,920 claimants of personal independence payments who died within six months of their claim being registered received a payment claimed under (a) the normal rules and (b) the special rules for terminal illness process.

Over 3.6 million applications to Personal Independence Payment (PIP) were made between April 2013 and 30^th April 2018. 73,870 of these claimants died within 6 months of their claim being registered.

Under the Social Security (Notification of Deaths) Regulations 2012 and s125 of Social Security Administration Act 1992 date of death is provided to the Department for all registered deaths. Additionally, next of kin also provide information on the date of death of an individual and this information is used appropriately in the administration of Departmental benefits.

56,950* of the 73,870 claims have been credited with a payment. 16,520 and 40,430 of these claimants registered their PIP claim under Normal Rules and Special Rules for Terminal Illness respectively.

*This is a slight increase on the answer to Question 209776 (56,920) as payments continue to be credited.

There is no evidence in this data to suggest someone’s reason for claiming PIP was the cause of their death and it would be misleading to suggest otherwise. People claim PIP for various reasons, the majority of which are non-life threatening.

Notes:

• These figures include claims made under both Normal Rules and Special Rules for Terminal Illness (SRTI) and include new claims and Disability Living Allowance (DLA) to PIP reassessment claims.
• The point of application is taken as the day the claimant registered a claim to PIP as recorded on the PIP computer system.
• This is unpublished data from the PIP computer system’s (PIP CS) management information. It should be used with caution and it may be subject to future revision.
• Figures are rounded to the nearest 10.
• Figures cover claims made up to and including 30^th April 2018 and clearances up to and including 31^st October 2018.
• Data is as recorded on the PIP Computer System.
• GB only.