Welfare Reform Act 2012

Welfare Reform Act 2012

2012 CHAPTER 5

Commentary on Sections

Part 4: Personal independence payment

Section 82: Terminal illness

386. Section 82 makes provision about entitlement for people who are terminally ill (as defined in subsection (4)) who make a claim to personal independence payment expressly on the grounds that they are terminally ill.

387. Subsection (2) automatically entitles a terminally ill person to the enhanced rate of the daily living component, as defined in section 78, and accordingly removes the requirement for them to undergo an assessment or to meet the required period condition. Subsection (3) disapplies the required period condition for the mobility component. However a terminally ill person is not automatically entitled to the mobility component and will have to satisfy the other conditions of entitlement for that component.

388. Subsection (4) defines a person as being terminally ill for the purposes of this section if the person can reasonably be expected to die from a progressive disease within the next 6 months.

389. Subsection (5) provides that where a claim is made on behalf of a terminally ill person, the terminally ill person is regarded as making the claim, notwithstanding that the claim is made without their knowledge or authority. The intention is to allow terminally ill people to be able to benefit from personal independence payment whether or not they know their prognosis.