PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Employment and Support Allowance (4 September 2015)

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many employment and support allowance claimants with (a) Parkinson's disease, (b) rheumatoid arthritis, (c) motor neurone disease, (d) multiple sclerosis and (e) cystic fibrosis have been (i) placed in the support group, (ii) placed in the work-related activity group and (iii) found fit for work since 2008; and if he will make a statement.

Asked by:
Nick Thomas-Symonds (Labour)

Outcomes of initial and repeat Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) functional assessments and Incapacity Benefits Reassessments (IBR) by disease code: October 2008 – September 2014

		Cystic Fibrosis	Spinal Muscular Atrophy	Parkinson’s Disease	Multiple Sclerosis	Other Rheumatoid Arthritis
Initial claim	SG	800	1,100	1,500	6,900	3,000
	WRAG	100	100	700	2,600	3,400
	FFW	100	-	500	1,700	3,800
Repeat claim	SG	500	200	1,100	7,000	4,300
	WRAG	100	-	500	2,200	3,900
	FFW	-	-	100	300	1,100
IBR claim	SG	600	200	1,200	15,000	5,800
	WRAG	100	-	300	2,600	5,000
	FFW	-	-	-	300	1,100

Source: Data in the tables above is derived from administrative data held by the DWP and assessment data provided by Atos Healthcare.

Notes:

1. Figures are rounded to the nearest 100. “-“denotes nil or under 50.

2. SG – Support Group

WRAG – Work Related Activity Group

FFW – Fit For Work

3. The outcome recorded is the final DWP Decision Maker’s decision or the recommendation made by the Atos Healthcare Professional where the Decision Maker’s decision is not yet available.

4. Motor neurone disease is shown in the table as 'Spinal muscular atrophy'.

5. The data presented above comes from benefit claims data held by the Department for Work and Pensions. In October 2008, ESA replaced IB for new claims. Starting with a trial in October 2010, and reaching a full scale national roll-out in April 2011, existing IB claims began to be phased out, with claimants reassessed to see if they qualify for ESA instead.

6. The reassessment of existing incapacity benefits claimants was rolled out nationally from April 2011.

Answered by:
Priti Patel (Conservative)
9 September 2015