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

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many personal independence payment claimants with epilepsy did not receive an award during their initial assessment or mandatory reconsideration and were subsequently granted an award before their case was heard at tribunal.

Asked by:
Marsha De Cordova (Labour)

Since the introduction of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) there have been a total of 14,020 decisions on all claims (new claims and reassessments) with an epilepsy condition listed as the main health condition. Of these 3,980 claimants received no benefit after an initial decision and no benefit after the mandatory reconsideration stage. 1,710 of these people subsequently appealed their decision and 100 cases were settled in favour of the claimant before the case reached the tribunal hearing.

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.

• Data included both new claims and DLA reassessments.
• This is unpublished data.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