Claire Coutinho: We are committed to ensuring people can access financial support through Personal Independence Payment (PIP) in a timely manner, taking into account the need to review all available evidence.â¯Reducing customer journey times for PIP claimants is a priority for the Department and we are working constantly to make improvements to our service, including using a blend of phone, video and...
Claire Coutinho: Entitlement to Personal Independence Payment (PIP) is assessedâ¯on the basis ofâ¯the needs arising from a health condition or disability, rather than the health condition or disability itself.â¯Award rates and their durations are set on an individual basis, based on the claimant’s needs and the likelihood of those needs changing. Award reviews allow for the correct rate of PIP to remain...
Claire Coutinho: Gov.uk provides information on eligibility and how to make a claim for benefits, including signposting to telephony routes (including textphone and Relay UK) for people who are unable to complete forms online. For Personal Independence Payment and Disability Living Allowance for children, there are videos on the DWP YouTube channel that provide further information about those benefits,...
Claire Coutinho: The latest available data on Personal Independence Payment (PIP) reviews initiated by the claimant, Change of Circumstances, can be found on Stat-Xplore. The relevant data set is ‘PIP Award Review Registrations’, which can be filtered using the Intervention Indicator for Change of Circumstances. Guidance on how to use Stat-Xplore can be found here.
Claire Coutinho: Employees claiming Universal Credit have no obligation to inform DWP they are receiving benefits.
Claire Coutinho: On 11 October 2022, we laid the draft Bereavement Benefits (Remedial) Order 2022 to extend Widows Parent’s Allowance and Bereavement Support Payment to cohabitees with dependent children. It will lay in Parliament for a 60-day period. The draft Order will be debated, and voted upon, in both Houses of Parliament before the Order can become law. You can find more information in the proposed...
Claire Coutinho: Information about the processes and actions taken regarding lapsed appeals can be found in the guidance attached. To confirm: Where a decision is revised, and appeal lapsed, we will notify the claimant or their representative in writing setting out the reasons for the change of decision, and the relevant appeal rights. Where the revised decision does not give the claimant the level of award...
Claire Coutinho: Assessment providers (APs) have their own complaints process to deal with dissatisfaction about the service they provide. Complaints about the health assessment are directed to the provider, unless it is a mixed complaint concerning the service provided by both the department and the AP. Mixed complaints are handled by the department. The three APs, Capita and Independent Assessment...
Claire Coutinho: The Health Transformation Programme (HTP) is modernising Health and Disability benefit services. The Department has no plans to publish an update at present, due to ongoing Commercial activity and the Programme being in the early stages of developing the service. The Programme will continue to provide key updates to Parliament at the appropriate time.
Claire Coutinho: Whilst the Department has not made any such estimates, the government understands the pressures people are facing with the cost of living and has taken further decisive action to support people with their energy bills. The new “Energy Price Guarantee” will mean a typical household in Great Britain will pay, on average, around £2,500 a year on their energy bill for the next 2 years from 1...
Claire Coutinho: To enable disabled people to receive the appropriate in-work support, they may need to contact Access to Work when they change job if their support needs or equipment change. Where the disabled person changes job and their support needs and equipment remain the same, there is no need to make a new application, as Access to Work will fund the costs of moving equipment previously funded by...
Claire Coutinho: As part of the IB to ESA reassessment LEAP exercise the department reviewed around 600,000 cases and made 118,000 arrears payments amounting to over £600m. Special payments for maladministration are made in line with the Department’s Special Payments policy. Where an individual feels they may be eligible for a Special Payment, they can contact the Department and set out their reasons....
Claire Coutinho: The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is a statutory consultee for Hazardous Substances Consent Applications. The assessments undertaken by HSE for each Hazardous Substance Consent Application are complex and underpin HSE’s statutory advice to Hazardous Substances Authorities. This advice is aimed at mitigating the effects of a major accident on the population around a major hazard site. In...
Claire Coutinho: The Department's Access to Work Scheme had 25,101 applications outstanding as of 5 September 2022. Please note that the data supplied is derived from unpublished management information, which was collected for internal Departmental use only, and have not been quality assured to National Statistics or Official Statistics publication standard. They should therefore be treated with...
Claire Coutinho: The table below shows the latest Universal Credit Work Capability Assessment decisions recorded between July 2021 and June 2022 by the month the decision was recorded on the Universal Credit System across GBR. NO LIMITED CAPABILITY FOR WORK LIMITED CAPABILITY FOR WORK LIMITED CAPABILITY FOR WORK RELATED ACTIVITIES Jul-21 11,600 9,200 30,000 Aug-21 9,600 7,600 22,900 ...
Claire Coutinho: All summer, like many Members, I have been hearing from households, businesses, schools and other public sector organisations and community centres that have been worried about their energy bills going up fivefold, in many cases. I therefore warmly welcome the speed and ambition of the package, which will bring much certainty to businesses and peace of mind to households and others. I welcome...
Claire Coutinho: What steps his Department is taking to attract science, technology, engineering and mathematics teachers to disadvantaged areas.
Claire Coutinho: Maths skills are one of the surest ways to ensure higher future earnings for students, so I welcome this package; it is the right thing to do to try to get high-quality teachers into disadvantaged schools. I also support the specialist maths schools agenda, which ensuring that aim in a different way. Will the Secretary of State update the House on its progress?
Claire Coutinho: What steps he is taking to help ensure food security.
Claire Coutinho: An important part of food security is reducing food waste. I recently visited an amazing organisation in my patch, the Horley Food Club, which is doing tremendous work recycling food waste into the hands of the community, using great food that would otherwise have been thrown away. However, the big supermarkets say that some regulations are holding them back, such as use-by labelling. Will...