Welfare Reform Bill

I will speak also to Amendment 86AB in my name and that of the noble Countess, Lady Mar, who sends her sincere apologies. Her absence is due to an unbreakable and important appointment. The amendments would ensure that people with fluctuating conditions, such as multiple sclerosis or some mental health conditions, are not unfairly denied PIP simply because their condition is fluctuating. As noble Lords will be well aware by now, such people may not necessarily have had a particular impairment at every point in the past six months but may well have experienced one at some point in the past six months. To highlight the unpredictability with which people with fluctuating conditions have to live, I share an example from the MS Society of a man with multiple sclerosis. It highlights the unpredictability of a condition which can fluctuate not only month-to-month and week-to-week, but day-to-day and even hour-to-hour, as the right reverend Prelate mentioned earlier. The man states: "““Fatigue is where your body just shuts down. It doesn’t make an appointment with you to do so and you have to just rest immediately. I have to just lie down until it passes. I cannot even talk””." Yet the current wording of the Bill could be interpreted to mean that a person must have been consistently unwell for the previous six months to qualify for PIP. The Bill states: "““whether, as respects every time in the previous 6 months, it is likely that if the relevant ability had been assessed at that time that ability would have been determined to be limited or (as the case may be) severely limited by the person's physical or mental condition””." That wording suggests that people with fluctuating conditions will not qualify if they are not consistently ill for the required length of time, regardless of the severity of their condition. I do not know if that is its intended meaning, but given the context in which PIP is being introduced—a desire to save some 20 per cent of the budget, as has been referred to previously—and to reserve PIP for those with the greatest needs, we cannot afford to take that risk. My amendment, therefore, changes the wording from ““every time”” to, "““the majority of the time””," to allow for fluctuations in conditions and for people with fluctuating conditions to be supported accordingly through qualification for eligibility for PIP. My amendment also addresses the retrospective qualifying PIP period, which is currently set at six months—this has also been referred to. That means that a claimant must have been unwell for at least six months before they can apply for PIP. In my view, six months is too long to wait before receiving financial assistance, when the costs incurred during that time from impairment may be substantial and highly detrimental to an individual's quality of life. My amendment therefore changes the requirement from six to three. Continuing with an ““every time”” approach that fails to recognise fluctuations would prevent the PIP assessment from accurately recording the severity and extra cost of a condition. If someone has a severe impairment that occurs only about 50 per cent of the time, they will not meet the qualifying condition; whereas someone who has a moderate impairment for most of the time will meet it. That seems extremely unfair. For example, if someone with MS or severe depression has had a few good days in the past six months and if the relevant ability had been assessed during those good days, it is conceivable that the assessment may determine that the relevant ability is not limited by their condition. Let us consider the sort of things that people would use their PIP for. Mind has provided me with a quote from a person with bipolar disorder: "““I use my DLA to help me get around in my car as I am unable to use public transport. It also enables me to communicate via the internet with the council, utility companies etc and to use the internet to buy things I need as I find it hard to talk to people on the phone, face to face or to go to shops. I am unable to wash my clothes as I cannot touch wet clothing so the money helps me to be able to get my clothes cleaned. I have to be able to buy first aid equipment to deal with my self harm but prefer to deal with the injuries myself rather than seek help. DLA gives me a lot of independence that I wouldn't have without it. It is an essential aspect of my income and ability to cope. Without it I have no doubt that my mental health would deteriorate to a level that would leave me either totally dependent on other people or … leave me hospitalised””." Bipolar is a fluctuating condition and this individual may well have had a few good days during the previous six months. Should we deny him access to PIP? It seems clear to me that that would have a detrimental effect on his health and his ability to manage his condition, let alone the additional cost to the health service. It may affect a person’s ability to stay at work if they are employed, stopping people who would otherwise be paying taxes and causing them to rely further on state financial assistance. Ineligibility for PIP for people with fluctuating conditions could also impede their recovery if they are not working. To sum up, my amendment ensures that we avoid the current situation we have with the work capability assessment. The experience of the WCA offers many fruitful learning points that we would be foolish not to apply to the assessment for PIP. The WCA has consistently failed people with fluctuating conditions, such as mental health problems or multiple sclerosis. The oversimplistic descriptions in the WCA do not allow people to record their fluctuations and, as a result, people lose out. People with severe conditions that occur only some of the time tend to be seen as inherently less impaired than people with moderate conditions that occur all of the time. The PIP assessment should therefore not make that same mistake. My amendment would at least mean that the legislation recognises that conditions occurring most, but not all, of the time can be just as debilitating as conditions that are constant. I beg to move.