A cross-party group of MPs have written to the Prime Minister to urge him to act ensure the DWP publishes the conclusions of its review as a matter of urgency and that proposals to scrap the six-month rule and make other changes needed to improve access to benefits for people with terminal illness are brought forward as soon as possible.
LETTER SENT BY EMAIL
8 July 2021
Dear Prime Minister,
We are writing to express our concern regarding the continued delay in publication of the Department for Work and Pensions’ (DWP) review of how the welfare system supports people living with a terminal illness.
Two years ago, on 11 July 2019 the DWP announced that it would review how dying people are treated by the benefits system. In that time, the charities Marie Curie and the Motor Neurone Disease Association estimate that around 7,000 people may have died while waiting for a decision on their benefits claim.
Fast-track access to welfare benefits is a lifeline for people living with a terminal illness, providing quick access to the financial support they need and avoiding inappropriate assessment processes. This lets people focus on what matters to them in the limited time they have left.
Under the current system, the ‘six-month rule’ that requires terminally ill claimants to obtain a form from a clinician stating that their death can be ‘reasonably expected within six months’ excludes many patients with unpredictable conditions such as motor neurone disease and those with uncertain prognoses from making a fast-track claim.
In 2019 an Inquiry by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Terminal Illness found that clinicians, social and palliative care workers and medical experts all recommended reform of this rule.
We welcome the DWP’s review and subsequent commitments by Ministers to scrap the six-month rule. However, while we appreciate there were unavoidable delays to the review process because of the Covid-19 pandemic, terminally ill people do not have time to wait indefinitely for the results of this review to be published and for these reforms to be implemented. As recent data published by the DWP has shown, as many as 100 people a week die waiting for a decision on claims for Personal Independence Payments alone.
We are deeply disappointed that proposals were not brought forward in the Queen’s Speech to make these changes, some of which will require primary legislation.
We urge you to do all you can to ensure the DWP publishes the conclusions of its review as a matter of urgency and that proposals to scrap the six-month rule and make other changes needed to improve access to benefits for people with terminal illness are brought forward as soon as possible.
We look forward to hearing from you.
Yours sincerely,
Drew Hendry MP
Chair of All-Party Parliamentary Group for Terminal Illness
Co-Signed By:
Jessica Morden MP
Diane Abbott MP
Debbie Abrahams MP
Rushanara Ali MP
Tonia Antoniazzi MP
Paula Barker MP
Ian Byrne MP
Lisa Cameron MP
Dan Carden MP
Douglas Chapman MP
Marsha de Cordova MP
Judith Cummins MP
Thangam Debbonaire MP
Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi MP
Anneliese Dodds MP
Allan Dorans MP
Peter Dowd MP
Jack Dromey MP
Chris Elmore MP
Stephen Farry MP
Marion Fellows MP
Yvonne Fovargue MP
Vicky Foxcroft MP
Gill Furniss MP
Patricia Gibson MP
Kate Green MP
Andrew Gwynne MP
Carolyn Harris MP
Sharon Hodgson MP
Rachel Hopkins MP
Dan Jarvis MP
Kim Johnson MP
Stephen Kinnock MP
Ian Lavery MP
Chris Law MP
Emma Lewell-Buck MP
Tony Lloyd MP
Carla Lockhart MP
Rebecca Long Bailey MP
Caroline Lucas MP
Kerry McCarthy MP
Andy Macdonald MP
Anna McMorrin MP
Navendu Mishra MP
Stephen Morgan MP
John Nicolson MP
Cat Smith MP
Alex Sobel MP
Jo Stevens MP
Owen Thompson MP
Karl Turner MP
Beth Winter MP
David Linden MP
Gavin Newlands MP
Alan Brown MP
Brendan O’Hara MP