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Incapacity Benefit: Terminal Illnesses

Asked by Jess Brown-FullerLiberal DemocratDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled Answered 12 May 2025UIN 49686

The question

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Green Paper entitled Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working, published on 18 March 2025, what estimate her Department has made of the number of people with terminal illnesses who are younger than 22 who will lose (a) the health component of Universal Credit and (b) any other form of incapacity benefit.

Answered by Sir Stephen Timms

We are currently consulting on whether to delay access to the health element of Universal Credit within the reformed system until someone is aged 22 as part of the ‘Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working’ Green Paper.

https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/pathways-to-work-reforming-benefits-and-support-to-get-britain-working-green-paper/pathways-to-work-reforming-benefits-and-support-to-get-britain-working-green-paper#chapter-2-reforming-the-structure-of-the-health-and-disability-benefits-system

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