Speeches by Timms.

“This is the universal credit health premium that we have just been talking about?”

“Yes, depending on exactly what inflation turns out to be. It may be that the total income does not quite keep track with inflation.”

“For somebody who is receiving the universal credit health premium, their income will typically consist of the universal credit standard allowance and the universal credit health premium. The latter will be frozen in cash terms. The universal credit standard allowance is being increased by more than inflation. If you ad…”

“What we have said is that they will be able to receive the higher frozen rate of the universal credit health element and in addition we will assure them that they will not need to go through universal credit reassessments in the future. Those are the two key things that we envisage.”

“That is a very important part of the system that we will need for the future.”

“It is an important point.”

“I recognise that that is a very significant issue and that there is a good deal of anxiety around. Of course change does sometimes need to be made, and we must do it in a way that is as helpful and supportive as possible. The changes particularly to PIP, as I said, are not going to start until November next year and no…”

“Let us see how we get on. We have announced those increases and they are in the Bill being debated next week. Beyond that I am not able to say but of course there are certainly aspirations around. I think everybody will have heard of the essentials guarantee idea. There is a case to be made, but let us see how we get o…”

“I think it is about needs first. We are saying we need to focus on supporting people to move into work, to fulfil their ambitions and aspirations, to have the same choices and chances that everyone else takes for granted and not hear from the system what they hear now, which is, “You are not capable of working”. That i…”

“You are certainly right, and there are examples where cuts in one area have led to increases in another. A classic example of that is the rate in universal credit for LCW, limited capability for work, because when ESA was introduced and the work capability assessment was introduced in 2008—and I ought to come clean to …”

“Partly this goes back to the discussion we were having earlier that at the moment there is a very big incentive for people claiming universal credit to seek to be classified as LCWRA, an appalling phraseology, because if they are classified as LCWRA then they get a premium, which is worth more than the universal credit…”

“No. I understand the argument but I do not agree with it. I think the need for the funding for PIP to be on a sustainable basis is clear—and we have talked about that—and urgent, and the Government have needed to work on that. It is a benefit that has been in place for 12 years. It is appropriate to think about whether…”

“We can make some short-term changes relatively quickly. If there was to be a more fundamental change to the nature of the PIP assessment, for example in bringing in environmental factors rather than just functional factors, I think everybody recognises that would take quite a long time. You would have to come up with i…”

“If we decide to make some short-term changes, we will be able to implement those perhaps not quite by November next year but not long afterwards. They will be in place for the great bulk at least of the reassessments that occur after November next year, so that will be post the review or that part of the review. That s…”

“The shorter-term ones will be on a track for implementation around that time. Practically I do not think it will be possible to make those changes by November 2026 but we can make them shortly afterward. I will ask Katherine Pateman to say a little bit more about that. Then the longer-term changes could be much longer-…”

“I will be undertaking the review so, yes, the information will be available to me. Not least thanks to your work, Chair, we are being much more open about all this now than was the case in the past, so information is being published in the annual review of the Department. We want people to see what is going on. There i…”

“I am not sure far fewer. We anticipate that by 2029-30 the estimate is 370,000 people who will be receiving PIP in November next year will not be receiving PIP by the end of the decade. That will be a number of people whose income is lower. Of course I would love for many of those to be able to move into work, and we a…”

“That is the wider picture. On PIP, I have made the point that the current trajectory for spending on PIP is not sustainable and so the changes we are making are intended to make it sustainable, but the spending on PIP will continue to rise in real terms. The number of people receiving PIP we expect to continue to incre…”

“You have said if we exclude other people, so allow me just to make the point that of course overall there are more gainers than losers from the changes that are being made in the Bill because of the increase in universal credit standard allowance received by a lot more people.”

“Yes. As I said, the changed role for this assessment is certainly an important factor in the background to the review.”