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Policy background and introduction

This publication is concerned with an Upper Tribunal (UT) decision, known as KT and SH, which has led to changes to the way Personal Independence Payment (PIP) is assessed. PIP is a payment that is based on the functional needs of a claimant arising from a disability or long term health condition.

Decision KT and SH

From 21 August 2020 there was a change to the way the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) (‘the department’) considers how hearing impaired/ deaf claimants can complete washing and bathing (activity 4) safely if they cannot hear a standard fire alarm.

Even though there is a small chance of fire occurring whilst hearing impaired/deaf claimants are washing or bathing, the severity of harm could be high. Therefore, the risk cannot reasonably or sensibly be ignored.

This means these claimants cannot wash/bathe safely and need an aid/appliance. If an aid/appliance is not appropriate they would need supervision.

Administrative exercise

Since 4 April 2022, the department has been carrying out an administrative exercise looking at entitlement to PIP on the date of the UT decision to review whether affected claimants are eligible for more support under PIP. This included looking again at some claims decided before the guidance was implemented for new PIP decisions on 17 May 2021, and some where the department did not award PIP.

The KT and SH decision only affects a claimant’s assessment in activity 4, washing and bathing; cases that already receive the enhanced daily living rate are excluded from review.

Purpose of publication

This end of exercise publication presents DWP management information on progress on clearing potentially affected cases as at 28 February 2023.

Cases reviewed

DWP management information at 28 February 2023 shows that since April 2022:

• around 4,000 cases have been reviewed against the KT and SH decision

DWP has continually monitored the exercise from the start to check the decisions being made. A more targeted approach to the administrative exercise was taken to ensure that the claimants most likely to benefit received payments as quickly as possible.

Where cases have been reviewed, a claimant who was already entitled to the maximum rate of PIP for the daily living component would not be reviewed against the KT and SH decision. Other exclusions from review against the KT and SH decision include:

• claimants who don’t have a hearing impairment
• claimants who would see no material difference to their PIP award
• claimants with a tribunal decision since 21 August 2020

All cases that are available to review have been reviewed.

DWP management information at 28 February 2023 shows that since April 2022, following a review:

• around 4,000 payments have been made from the application of the KT and SH decision
• around £11 million in arrears payments has been paid out by the department from the application of the KT and SH decision

Mandatory Reconsiderations

Claimants who wish to dispute a decision on the review of their PIP claim under KT and SH can ask DWP to reconsider the decision. This is called a mandatory reconsideration (MR) and must be completed before an appeal is made and lodged with HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS). DWP management information has identified that, as of 28 February 2023, no cases have registered an MR under KT and SH.

Notes about the data

Source: The data used is management information from the PIP administrative exercise at 28 February 2023. A case is defined as a unique individual within a given group.

Rounding

All figures have been rounded as shown in the table. Some numbers may not sum due to rounding.

Range	Rounded to the nearest
0 – 1,000	10
1,001 – 10,000	100
10,001 – 100,000	1,000
100,001 – 1,000,000	10,000
1,000,001 – 10,000,000	100,000
10,000,001 – 100,000,000	1,000,000

Statement of compliance with the Code of Practice for Statistics

The (the Code) is built around 3 main concepts, or pillars:

• Trustworthiness
• Quality
• Value

The following explains how we have applied the pillars of the Code in a proportionate way.

Trustworthiness – is about having confidence in the people and organisations that publish statistics

Progress on the PIP administration exercise is based on DWP management information supplied through 2 sources:

1. A data capture tool built to allow consistent and efficient recording of case review progress in the PIP administration exercise.
2. The department’s computer system used to administer the benefit.

Quality – is about using data and methods that produce assured statistics

The data presented on progress is partially taken from the data capture tool developed to accurately record progress and levels of arrears payments. Drop-down menus and validation checks assist in reliable data recording. Data recording checks are carried out by operational staff. DWP analysts have engaged with operational staff to ensure the quality of the data is fit-for-purpose.

The data presented is also partially taken from the computer system used to administer the benefit. As well as assurance on design of business rules used for producing figures, value outputs have been sense-checked against other outputs for comparable periods.

As figures are derived from a mixture of automated and manually collated administrative data numbers are provided as management information and not official statistics.

Value – is about publishing statistics that support society’s needs for information

This release provides a progress update on the PIP administrative exercise, together with context for those figures. In addition, it aims to reduce the administrative burden of answering parliamentary questions, Freedom of Information requests and ad hoc queries to ensure timely responses to public queries.

To support financial planning and management of departmental business, figures have been seen in advance by ministers and officials. This is in line with the Code, where pre-release access does not apply for releases based on routine management information – as covered in para 3.6 of the .

Future releases

The exercise has now ended, therefore there will be no future releases of this publication.

Where to find out more

You can find out more in the following publications:

• changes to PIPÌý±ô²¹·É from 21 August 2020

For more information on PIP, please see:

• Personal Independence Payment statistics
• DWP benefit expenditure and caseload tables

Contact information

The department will be contacting individuals affected as appropriate.

For press enquiries, contact the DWP Press Office.