Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 25 September 2020 to Question 90093 on Personal Independence Payment, what the medical conditions were of the 5,520 personal independence payment claimants who applied under normal rules and who died after registering their claim but prior to her Department making a decision on their claim.

Personal Independence Payment (PIP) is claimed by people with a range of health conditions and disabilities, many of which are degenerative or life limiting and the Department treats the death of any claimant sympathetically.

New claims to PIP made under Normal Rules were cleared in an average (median) of 16 weeks in April 2020 and reassessments from Disability Living Allowance (DLA) to PIP under Normal Rules were being cleared in an average (median) of 27 weeks in April 2020.

The cause of death of claimants to PIP is not collated centrally by the Department. 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.

The number of PIP claimants who died after registering a PIP claim under Normal Rules but prior to a decision being made on their case between 1^st April 2018 and 30^th April 2020 has increased from 5,520 to 5,530, since Question 90093 was answered. This is due to a live system.

The main disabling condition of the 5,530 PIP claimants who died after registering a PIP claim under Normal Rules but prior to a decision being made on their case between 1^st April 2018 and 30^th April 2020 is shown in Table 1 below:

Table 1: Main disabling condition for PIP claimants who died after registering a PIP claim under Normal Rules but prior to a decision being made on their case between 1^st April 2018 and 30^th April 2020

Notes:

Sources: PIP ADS, Customer Information System

• These figures include new claims and Disability Living Allowance (DLA) to PIP reassessment claims.
• If a claimant dies before a decision is made on an outstanding claim, the Department establishes whether the claimant’s representative or next of kin wishes to proceed with the claim. If not, the claim is withdrawn.
• This is unpublished data from the PIP computer system’s (PIP CS) management information. It should be used with caution and may be subject to future revision.
• Claimants may often have multiple disabling conditions upon which the decision is based but only the primary condition is recorded on the PIP CS.
• The main disabling condition is only recorded for claimants who have attended a PIP assessment with an assessment provider.
• Figures include registrations made from 1^st April 2018 – 30^th April 2020 and clearances made up to 30^th April 2020 (as recorded on the system at 30^th April 2020) and claimant deaths from 1^st April 2018 – 30^th April 2020 (as recorded on the system at 2^nd October 2020) and may be subject to retrospection.
• The latest PIP Official Statistics, including data to 31^st July 2020, were published on 15^th September 2020. We have provided figures here as at 30^th April 2020 for consistency with the original answers to PQ 90093 and PQ 81700.
• Figures are rounded to the nearest 10 and ‘-’ is used for totals of greater than 0 but less than 5.
• Components may not sum to totals due to rounding
• GB only.

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.