Social Security Benefits: Motor Neurone Disease

Department for Work and Pensions written question – answered at on 22 January 2018.

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Photo of Chris Ruane Chris Ruane Shadow Minister (Wales)

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people diagnosed with motor neurone disease and in receipt of benefits have been through the process to have their benefits reassessed in each of the last five years.

Photo of Sarah Newton Sarah Newton The Minister of State, Department for Work and Pensions

The table below shows the number of claimants with motor neurone disease who underwent Disability Living Allowance (DLA) to Personal Independence Payment (PIP) reassessments up to 31st October 2017 – the latest date for which data is available. Data is published annually and the next update in December 2018 will include data to 31st October 2018.

Table 1: Number of motor neurone disease claimants who underwent a DLA to PIP reassessment in each of the last 5 calendar years.

Year

DLA to PIP Reassessment

Jan 13 - Dec 13

-

Jan 14 - Dec 14

-

Jan 15 - Dec 15

-

Jan 16 - Dec 16

200

Jan 17 - Oct 17

200

Source: PIP ADS. The figures are rounded to the nearest 100. ‘–‘denotes figures that are zero or less than 50.

DLA to PIP Reassessment figures are based on the first outcome recorded for each case and include cases on which a decision was made between April 2013 and 31st October 2017. Figures include reassessments for individuals who were aged between 16 and 64 on 8th April 2013, and include both PIP Normal Rules and Special Rules for the Terminally Ill claims.

Data is based on primary disabling condition as recorded on the PIP computer systems. Claimants may often have multiple disabling conditions upon which the decision is based but only the primary condition is shown in these statistics.

Figures are for Great Britain only.

The table below shows the number of claimants with motor neurone disease who have had their Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) or Incapacity Benefit (IB) benefits reassessed.

Table 2: Number of people who have at least one completed ESA repeat assessment or IB reassessment, whose primary medical condition is recorded as motor neurone disease, annually from July 2012 to June 2016, Great Britain.

Year

ESA Repeat Assessment

IB Reassessment

Jul-12 to Jun-13

100

100

Jul-13 to Jun-14

-

100

Jul-14 to Jun-15

-

-

Jul-15 to Jun-16

100

-

Jul-16 to Jun-17

100

-

Source: Application data is derived from administrative data held by the DWP and assessment data provided by the Healthcare Provider. The figures are rounded to the nearest 100. ‘–‘denotes figures that are zero or less than 50.

The information is provided for Work Capability Assessments completed up to June 2017; this is the latest data available at time of request. The outcome recorded is the final DWP Decision Maker’s decision or the recommendation made by the Healthcare Professional where the Decision Maker’s decision is not yet available.

An individual may have made more than one ESA claim and had more than one assessment in the time period shown. These individuals will only be counted once in each of the figures provided.

The primary medical condition recorded on the claim form does not itself confer entitlement to ESA. So, for example, a decision on entitlement for a customer claiming ESA on the basis of Motor Neurone Disease would be based on their ability to carry out the range of activities assessed by the work capability assessment.

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