Ian Austin – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Austin on 2015-10-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department has taken to ensure that deafblind people unable to use a telephone or complete paper forms are able to submit claims for personal independence payments.

Justin Tomlinson

The claim process for Personal Independence Payment (PIP) has been developed involving claimants and people who support disabled people. This includes organisations which represent individuals with sensory impairments, including Sense, the deafblind charity, and Deafblind UK.

The current process allows for someone else to start the application for PIP over the telephone with the claimant present when the call is made. If a face-to-face visit and a specialist interpreter is required we would seek to provide one.

For the remainder of the process the claim forms, paper guidance and general information are available in a range of formats including large print, Braille, audio and British Sign Language.

We are working with Sense and RNIB in the development of the PIP Digital Claim. This will involve deafblind people testing the design and giving us feedback which we will use to make improvements to the online journey.