Digital team aims to speed up applications for support for terminally ill people
The Department for Work & Pensions (DWP) is planning an online service for the submission of applications for urgent support for people with just a few months to live.
It has acknowledged that the existing postal applications through the DS1500 for the Personal Independence Payment (PIP), which is available to people aged between 16 and 64 with less than six months, has been taking too long – sometimes more than 10 days before receipt.
The department’s digital team has begun to work on an electronic version of the DS1500 form, which has to be completed by a doctor or nurse and can provide access to support such as motability schemes and blue badges.
A blogpost by Sophie Lambert of the DWP’s Secure Communications services says it has carried out research with doctors and Macmillan nurses and that the new service is in a private beta phase, under test by a small number of healthcare professionals and gradually being rolled out to more.
It claims that it has already developed the service to the stage where the form can be delivered in seconds, rather than days.
Image from GOV.UK, Open Government Licence v3.0
