Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent steps his Department has taken to help ensure that people with a deteriorating condition (a) have the right level of social security support and (b) do not experience delays for the (i) assessment and (ii) processing of their claims.

The department is committed to assessing people as quickly as possible, in order that they receive the benefit and support they are entitled to in a timely manner.

With all of our disability benefits, Personal Independence Payment, Employment Support Allowance and Industrial Injuries Disability Benefits, where a claimants’ needs arising from a long-term health condition or disability have changed, they should report that change to the department. Once a change in circumstances has been reported, we will always review their existing award to see whether a change is required to their award to reflect their current needs.

We work continuously with providers to drive improvements to overall processing times. As part of the department’s response to the pandemic we introduced telephone and video assessments, and they continue to be delivered alongside face-to-face and paper-based assessments.

The department is always looking at ways to improve the assessment process and continues to work with all the assessment providers to maximise the number of assessments completed.