Tom Brake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Brake on 2016-02-22.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether benefits for people with disabilities will be exempt from the freeze on working-age benefits.

Priti Patel

The Welfare Reform and Work Bill introduces a four-year freeze for the main rates of most working-age benefits from 2016-17 to 2019-20, as part of the Government’s welfare reforms that are moving the country to a higher wage, lower tax, lower welfare society.

The freeze does not apply to benefits related to the additional costs of disability, such as Disability Living Allowance and Personal Independence Payment; to the support group component of Employment and Support Allowance or the limited capability for work and work-related activity amount in Universal Credit; or to the disability premiums in Jobseeker’s Allowance, Employment and Support Allowance, Income Support or Housing Benefit. Carers benefits and premiums are also exempted from the freeze.