The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has shared details of new plans to “reduce unnecessary assessments” for people with “severe and lifelong health conditions” which will not improve. Minister for Disabled People Tom Pursglove MP also said that changes have been made to “help reduce the frequency of repeat assessments some people need to go through on Personal Independence Payment (PIP)”.
His comments came in a written response to Labour MP Dan Carden who asked what steps DWP is taking to ensure that people with severe and lifelong conditions are “not subjected to unnecessary reassessments” for PIP and other benefits.
Mr Pursglove replied: “We want to reduce unnecessary assessments for people with severe and lifelong health conditions which will not improve. We announced in the ‘ Future Support: Health and Disability Green Paper ' that we will test a new Severe Disability Group (SDG), so that those with severe and lifelong conditions can benefit from a simplified process to access PIP, ESA (Employment and Support Allowance) and UC (Universal Credit), without needing to go through a face-to-face assessment or frequent reassessments.”
He added: “We will consider the test results once complete to influence thinking on the next stages of this work.”
Mt Pursglove also said that the DWP has made changes to help reduce the frequency of repeat assessments some people need to go through on PIP.
He continued: “We have also ensured that people who receive the highest level of support, and whose needs will not improve, together with most people over State Pension age, receive an ongoing award of PIP with a ‘light touch’ review at the 10-year point.
“We are also now supporting people via changes to the Special Rules for End of Life and the testing of a new Severe Disability Group.
"These changes will ensure that people receive access to the financial support they need as quickly as possible, and will simplify the assessment process for people with severe and lifelong conditions that will not improve.”
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