PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Personal Independence Payment: Epilepsy (9 July 2018)

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people with epilepsy who were in receipt of Disability Living Allowance did not receive an award as a result of a reassessment for personal independence payments received an award at tribunal.

Asked by:
Marsha De Cordova (Labour)

Since the introduction of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) a total of 6,330 decisions on claims with an epilepsy condition listed as the main health condition have been made as part of migration from Disability Living Allowance (DLA) to PIP. Of these, 3,380 did not receive any benefit award at the initial assessment and 1,120 of these people subsequently appealed their decision. Of those who appealed their decision 870 cases were settled in favour of the claimant.

Under PIP, 29 per cent of working age claimants with epilepsy recorded as their primary disabling condition receive the highest level of support compared to 6 per cent under Disability Living Allowance when PIP was introduced.

Notes:

• Data is based on primary disabling condition as recorded on the PIP computer system. Claimants may often have multiple disabling conditions upon which the decision is based but only the primary condition is shown in these statistics.
• Data is up to March 2018.
• This is unpublished data. It should be used with caution and it may be subject to future revision.
• Data taken from the PIP computer system’s management information.
• Data has been rounded to the nearest 10.

Answered by:
Sarah Newton (Conservative)
19 July 2018