Baroness Thomas of Winchester – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Thomas of Winchester on 2015-12-10.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have revisited the Personal Independence Payment assessment moving around guidance on reliability to ensure that that guidance captures real-life situations and that the criteria are applied consistently and fairly.

Baroness Altmann

The PIP Assessment Guide for Health Professionals carrying out assessments includes guidance on the assessment criteria and how they should be applied. The guide is regularly reviewed to ensure that the criteria is applied consistently and fairly.

Chapter 3 – ‘The Assessment Criteria’ (page 73) explains how to apply the reliability criteria, including in the ‘Moving Around’ activity. We have also provided a worked example to further assist health professionals.

The latest version of the guide is annexed to this answer.