Disability Living Allowance (Hansard, 2 February 1998)

§ Mr. Denham

The administration of Disability Living Allowance is a matter for Peter Mathison, the Chief Executive of the Benefits Agency. He will write to my hon. Friend.

Letter from Peter Mathison to Mr. Llew Smith, dated 30 January 1998: The Secretary of State for Social Security has asked me to reply to your recent Parliamentary Questions asking what assessment she has made of the difficulties faced by claimants in filling in the new questionnaire for claiming Disability Living Allowance (DLA) and how many claimants have had their benefit stopped following the new procedure introduced for claiming DLA. Minor revisions to the DLA/Attendance Allowance claim packs were made in April and October 1997. A new child specific claim pack was introduced in April 1997, following a lengthy and wideranging consultation exercise with a large number of groups representing disabled customers. The introduction of the child specific claim pack was as a direct result of concerns expressed by customers who felt that the existing DLA claim pack did not adequately cater for children. The introduction of these claim packs did not include a questionnaire for claiming DLA. However a questionnaire was introduced for the Benefit Integrity Project (BIP). The BIP was set up in response to the recent Benefit review of DLA. Over the next two years, specially trained staff will make enquiries by postal questionnaire or home visit in over 400,000 cases to establish whether DLA is paid correctly. The BIP will look again at existing DLA awards of the higher rate of mobility combined with either the middle or highest rate of care. 497W The questionnaire used by the BIP is based on the DLA claim pack in use until October 1997. However, it also takes account of customer research undertaken by the Benefits Agency in 1996–97 which highlighted that more "free text" space was needed rather than using a "tick box" format. Although the questionnaire is more than 30 pages long this makes sure that people have the opportunity to fully describe their circumstances and that we obtain enough information to allow Adjudication Officers to reach properly informed decisions. Project staff are considering to what extent the improvements in the revised DLA claim pack can be introduced into the BIP questionnaire. The most appropriate and sensitive method of gathering information from people receiving the higher rate of mobility combined with the highest rate of care is to visit them and complete an enquiry form. This form is designed to provide an up to date picture of their circumstances. The visits are by appointment and are made at least a week in advance. The letter informing the person about the appointment invites them to have a friend or carer present, reassures them the appointment can be rearranged if it is inconvenient and asks them to contact the Disability Benefits Helpline if they have any special needs, such as an interpreter. Calls to the Helpline are charged at British Telecom's local rate. People receiving the higher rate of mobility combined with the middle rate of care are sent an enquiry form by post. They have three weeks to complete and return the form. The letter accompanying the form informs people that they can contact the Disability Benefits Helpline if they have difficulty completing or need more time to return it. There has been no formal monitoring of the difficulties encountered by DLA customers who have been sent a questionnaire as part of the BIP. Approximately 10 people a week have made use of the BIP forms completion service, which involves a member of the BIP team. This suggests that generally people do not find completing the questionnaire difficult. The average time taken to return the questionnaire is 19 days compared with the 21 days allowed, as at 30 November 1997. At 30 November, a total of 33,490 cases had been examined of which 6,953 have been changed. Of these changes, 2,232 have been disallowed, 3,880 reduced and 841 increased. Figures for the period to 31 December and subsequent months will be placed in the House of Commons Library. I hope you find this reply helpful.