Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 18 March 2019 to Question 230077 on Personal Independence Payment, which team is responsible for making decisions to disallow claims under special rules for the terminally ill prior to a referral to the assessment provider.

Cases under Special Rules for the Terminally Ill are routinely referred to the Assessment Provider for a decision and not disallowed by DWP staff. The exception to this would only be when a claim is made by a customer outside of the age restrictions or where there is no recourse to public funds e.g. fails to meet nationality requirements.

Previous Question 230077 asked about claims made under special rules for terminal illness and reason for disallowance. It is possible for a PIP claim made under special rules for terminal illness to be rejected as a special rules case by the Assessment Provider for not satisfying the terminally ill definition. When this occurs the claim is subsequently referred back to the Department for Work and Pensions and the claim process will proceed under normal rules. A claim can be disallowed for the claimant failing to return the PIP2 form or failing to attend an assessment under the normal rules process, even though the claimant originally registered under special rules.