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Financial Assistance Scheme and Incapacity Benefit (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2009

I am grateful to both noble Lords for their comments and their support for these proposals. The noble Lord, Lord Skelmersdale, pressed me on actuarially reduced amounts. For someone with ill health, early access to actuarially reduced amounts simply reflects the fact that having access to the arrangements earlier will enable them to have them for a longer period of their life. It is a technique which quite often applies. That is in contrast to someone who has the severe ill health payment, which is predicated on a person having a progressive illness with a life expectancy not exceeding five years. Therefore, not reducing the amount actuarially reflects the fact that they will have it for a shorter period. That is the difference. The noble Lord, Lord Oakeshott, asked me about the number of people involved, which we think will be small. Something like 61 people in receipt of ill health payments at the moment will be contacted about these new arrangements. We think that a couple of dozen people may be entitled. That is the scale of the issue. The noble Lord also asked me about the process. The individual will need to make a claim to the FAS operational unit. The individual’s GP or consultant would be contacted to provide information. The DWP’s medical advisers will have the opportunity to review that and will clearly advise the scheme manager who will make that decision. Obviously, the scheme manager would be constrained by rules of consistency and fairness, and would be expected to act on the basis of the medical advice given. The noble Lord, Lord Skelmersdale, asked whether, for someone who lived for longer than five years with an original prognosis of less than that, there would be any adjustment. No, there would not. They would continue to be entitled to the payments at the unreduced levels for the rest of their life. The noble Lord also asked about incapacity benefits.