Commons Sense

House of Commons · Ministers' Questions

Personal Independence Payment Assessments

Monday 4 September 2023 · 5 questions

Summarised by AI from the official record, so it can contain mistakes.

Read the full transcript on Parliament.uk

At a glance

Answered 0 Partly answered 5 Not answered 0

Key points

  • Sarah Green inquired about the adequacy of the assessment process for personal independence payments, highlighting the challenge of assessing fluctuating conditions.
  • The Minister acknowledged the importance of timely assessments and noted efforts to reduce waiting times for PIP decisions.
  • Nigel Mills urged the Minister to address how PIP is assessed for those with brain injuries, noting the variability and potential for individuals to present overly positive impressions.

Topics (select to filter)

Questions & Answers

Q1 Sarah Green Lib Dem Chesham and Amersham
Benefits & Welfare
Context

The adequacy of the assessment process for PIP is under scrutiny due to concerns about its effectiveness in capturing fluctuating conditions, particularly among those with chronic illnesses like Crohn's disease and colitis.

Question

What assessment has been made of the adequacy of the assessment process for personal independence payments? The Minister will know that one challenge with PIP is how to accurately assess fluctuating conditions. More than half a million people in the UK are living with Crohn's disease or colitis, but fewer than 3% are in receipt of PIP. Past applicants have said that while fatigue is the most disabling symptom, they feel that this is the least represented symptom in their assessments.

Answer from Tom Pursglove

I am grateful to the hon. Lady for her interest in this issue. Through the White Paper reforms, we have advocated for a number of tests and trials, including one that focuses specifically on better capturing fluctuating conditions. I would be keen to have conversations with her about that. The Government are committed to working with charities and those that are interested, including disabled people, to ensure we get those reforms right.

Partly answered

Not addressed: The specific ask of introducing a fatigue rating scale was not directly addressed.

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Q2 Sarah Green Lib Dem Chesham and Amersham
Benefits & Welfare
Context

There are concerns about the timeliness and fairness of PIP assessments, with some claimants facing long delays between application submission and assessment scheduling.

Question

I agree with the importance of having a timely assessment. Last week, a constituent raised her case with me: she filled in her renewal form nine months ago but has been given less than two weeks' notice for an assessment next week. Surely we need to have assessments when the form is fresh and accurate, not nine months later?

Answer from Tom Pursglove

The waiting time for PIP decisions has come down considerably in recent times, but I am not complacent about that, as we want to go further in seeing those waits reduced. For example, being able to apply online is an important part of that journey, as well as improving interfaces and making sure people provide all the right information up front. If we can provide better support for that, it will help us make decisions sooner, which can only be welcome.

Partly answered

Not addressed: The specific ask about timely assessments was not directly addressed with a concrete timeline or mechanism.

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Q3 Nigel Mills Con
Benefits & Welfare
Context

There are concerns about the assessment process for personal independence payments, particularly how it affects individuals with fluctuating conditions such as brain injuries.

Question

I urge the Minister to look specifically at how PIP is assessed for those with brain injuries. It is well known that the effect of a brain injury may vary over time—people go up and down, and many who have had a brain injury want to give a very positive impression of how they are, which gives a false impression when it comes to assessing whether they need PIP.

Answer from Tom Pursglove

I am very sympathetic to the hon. Gentleman's point—he has been a passionate and tireless campaigner on the issue of brain injury for a long time. These are exactly the sorts of issues that we want to look at as we take this reform forward. I mentioned our changes around fluctuating conditions, but we also want to look at issues such as expert assessors and having specialists working with individuals to carry out the assessment to ensure a proper understanding and, hopefully, build confidence around decision making.

Partly answered

Not addressed: The specific ask of introducing specialist assessors was not directly addressed.

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Q4 Chris Bryant Lab Rhondda and Ogmore
Benefits & Welfare
Context

There is a proposal to extend the severe conditions criteria so that individuals with certain severe conditions, such as motor neurone disease, can automatically access support without needing an assessment.

Question

Our excellent, proactive Minister is no doubt testing out concepts ahead of the forthcoming White Paper. Does that include extending the severe conditions criteria so that people with conditions such as motor neurone disease can automatically access support without the need for an assessment?

Answer from Tom Pursglove

I am fortunate that my hon. Friend was one of my predecessors as Minister for Disabled People, as he is a tireless campaigner on these issues and has done much to take the agenda forward. On the severe disability group, we remain committed to this work. We have worked with an expert group of specialist health professionals to draw up a set of draft criteria. We have started initial testing at small scale, and we are looking to scale that up as we move forward, because we want to get this right and we think that this is a significant change.

Partly answered

Not addressed: The specific ask about extending the severe conditions criteria was not directly addressed with a concrete timeline or commitment.

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Q5 Justin Tomlinson Con
Benefits & Welfare
Context

The adequacy of the assessment process for PIP is under scrutiny due to concerns about its effectiveness in capturing fluctuating conditions, particularly among those with chronic illnesses like Crohn's disease and colitis.

Question

What assessment has been made of the adequacy of the assessment process for personal independence payments? The Minister will know that one challenge with PIP is how to accurately assess fluctuating conditions. More than half a million people in the UK are living with Crohn's disease or colitis, but fewer than 3% are in receipt of PIP. Past applicants have said that while fatigue is the most disabling symptom, they feel that this is the least represented symptom in their assessments.

Answer from Tom Pursglove

I am grateful to the hon. Lady for her interest in this issue. Through the White Paper reforms, we have advocated for a number of tests and trials, including one that focuses specifically on better capturing fluctuating conditions. I would be keen to have conversations with her about that. The Government are committed to working with charities and those that are interested, including disabled people, to ensure we get those reforms right.

Partly answered

Not addressed: The specific ask of introducing a fatigue rating scale was not directly addressed.

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