Welfare Reform Bill

The point of the noble Baroness’s question is that people will not have that advantage until they actually get the benefit. She was saying that, unless the benefit is backdated, the individual concerned will have to live in some way, with all the associated costs of disability, during that 13-week period. With respect, I do not think that the Minister has answered her point. The noble Lord, Lord Kirkwood, rather pre-empted me; I was going to ask exactly the opposite question. What happens if everything goes swimmingly and the assessment is completed by week nine or 10? As I understand it, this means that claimants have to wait until the beginning of week 14 before they receive the benefit which has been assessed as being due to them. Is that not a contradiction of natural justice?