HC Deb 10 March 1999 vol 327 cc251-2W
Mr. Oaten

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) if he will list the groups of disabled people which will automatically be exempted from the new system of periodically reviewing awards of disability living allowance; [69224]

(2) if the proposed system of periodically reviewing awards of disability living allowance announced on 28 January will include the safeguards announced on 9 February 1998 in respect of the Benefit Integrity Project. [69220]

Mr. Bayley

[pursuant to his reply, 11 February 1999, c. 381–82]: From April 1999 a new system of periodically reviewing entitlement to Disability Living Allowance (DLA) will be introduced. We intend to incorporate the lessons already learned and to evaluate and refine the process as it develops. At the outset, not only DLA recipients whose cases were examined by the Benefit Integrity Project (BIP) will be excluded from the process, but also people in any one of the specific categories listed who were previously excluded from the action of the BIP will be excluded.

Groups to be exempt at the outset: People receiving the higher rate of the DLA mobility component and either the highest or the middle rate of the DLA care component who are:

  • Paraplegic;
  • Tetraplegic;
  • Quadriplegic;
  • Both deaf and blind;
  • Double amputees;
  • Over the age of 65; or
  • With an award made prior to April 1992.
People receiving the higher rate of the DLA mobility component and the highest rate of the DLA care component with:
  • Cystic Fibrosis;
  • Dementia;
  • Haemodialysis;
  • Hyperkinetic Syndrome;
  • Learning difficulty1
  • Multiple Allergy Syndrome;
  • Multiple Sclerosis;
  • Motor Neurone Disease;
  • Neurological Disease (including Muscular Dystrophy);
  • Parkinson's Disease;
  • Total Parenteral Nutrition or who are Severely Mentally Impaired.2

People treated as being terminally ill under criteria set out in Section 66(2)(a) of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992 will also be excluded, as will anyone with a fixed period award due to end within the next three years. Safeguards developed and introduced during the lifetime of the BIP will be carried forward into the new process. This will include the changes in evidence gathering introduced on 9 February 1998; which ensured that no decision to reduce or remove entitlement to DLA is based solely on the information provided by the claimant. 1 This category applies to people whose main disabling condition has been recorded as "mental subnormality 2 This category applies to people who meet the criteria set out in Section 73(3) of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992 and Regulation 12(5)&(6) of the Social Security (Disability Living Allowance) Regulations 1991.

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