PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Personal Independence Payment: British Nationals Abroad (15 March 2022)

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many Personal Independence Payment recipients had their entitlement withdrawn as a result of being stranded in another country during periods of lockdown in the UK in 2020 and 2021.

Asked by:
Darren Jones (Labour)

Claimants who were abroad and could not return to Great Britain due to travel restrictions during the COVID-19 epidemic were advised that they could continue to be paid for as long as those restrictions remained in place. Once travel restrictions were lifted, claimants were expected to return to Great Britain if they wished to continue to receive payments.

A digital scan was run to identify claimants who had notified the Department they would be abroad on or after 2^nd November 2019, identifying 409 claimants. The claims identified were extended to ensure they did not fall out of payment. Regular tracking of cases was undertaken to check if and when customers had returned to the country. Claims were ended when claimants stated they did not intend to return, and in three cases payment was stopped as no acceptable reason was provided for failure to return.

These numbers exclude claimants who failed to inform us that they had left the country because there was no information on the system to track, however guidance stated that once claimants did inform us, payment could be made as long as travel restrictions remained in place.

The numbers also exclude individual cases where claimants chose to travel after travel restrictions were lifted, and cases where the daily living component of PIP can remain in payment in the European Economic Area or Switzerland where a relevant EU Regulation applies and they can demonstrate a genuine link to the United Kingdom social security system.

Answered by:
Chloe Smith (Conservative)
21 March 2022