Dataset: Personal Independence Payment (PIP): Cases with Entitlement
Field: End of Life Rules Indicator
Description
DWP have Special Rules for End of Life (SREL) for people making a claim to PIP because they are approaching the end of their life due to a progressive disease. The Special Rules ensure claims are dealt with quickly and sensitively. Until 4 April 2022, these claims were referred to as Special Rules for Terminal Illness (SRTI).
From 3 April 2023 DWP changed the eligibility criteria for SREL allowing those who have a progressive disease from which death can reasonably be expected within 12 months to claim, where previously SREL were only applicable for people with 6 months or less to live. Published PIP statistics show SREL status as at the time point the data was collected/processed, so a time series spanning April 2023 may include claims with both 6-month and 12-month eligibility.
Classification
For PIP data, End of Life rules indicator is grouped into three bands. Applicable to: all claimants:
- Normal Rules (Not Special Rules for End of Life)
- SREL (Special Rules for End of Life)
- Missing or Unknown
Total number of categories: 3
Quality Statement
SREL claims are assessed in a different way to normal rules (non-SREL) claims. However, some claimants who apply under SREL are subsequently deemed to not be eligible for these rules and their claims are instead processed under Normal Rules. On occasions, admin errors can result in the status of these claimants not being changed to Normal Rules on the PIP Computer System. This explains why, in the data, there is a small number of SREL claimants who appear to have been disallowed for non-return of PIP2, for failing to attend or for failing the assessment.