DWP confirms changes coming to PIP – including eligibility, assessments and payments
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has given a new update on planned changes to personal independence payments (PIP), a disability benefit claimed by over three million people in the UK.
Work continues on a programme designed to 'overhaul' the benefit, social security minister Sir Stephen Timms has confirmed. Writing in a statement to MPs, he says the plans will 'transform' the entire service, with changes to eligibility, decisions and payments.
His comments come ahead of a DWP green paper which is set to outline sweeping reforms to the benefits system. However, these changes to PIP will come instead as part of the government's previously announced Health Transformation Programme.
Launched by the previous Conservative administration, the programme intends to simplify the PIP application process. It will also introduce a new single health assessment service for all benefits that require a functional health assessment, with a national rollout planned for 2029.
Sir Stephen said: 'the Health Transformation Programme is modernising health and disability benefit services, to improve people's experience of applying for PIP. The Programme will transform the entire PIP service, from finding out about benefits through to decisions, eligibility, and payments.'
'The Programme communicates and engages frequently with disabled people and external stakeholders – including national charities and other organisations that support people with disabilities – about proposed changes. Their opinions and suggestions are taken on board as we test new iterations of the transformed service.'
In Spring, the DWP will release its Health and Disability green paper, which will reveal plans for even more changes to the disability benefits system. Details have not yet been confirmed, but the government has committed to matching the £3 billion in welfare savings pencilled in by the previous Conservative administration.
However, the government has said it will re-consult on the plans after the high court found that the previous administration's consultation was unlawful.
Reforms to the work capability assessment are understood to remain central to the overhaul, with changes to PIP also widely expected. It's likely the changes will make it more difficult for people to qualify for certain disability benefits, especially for reasons related to mental health.
In his statement, Sir Stephen said: 'We believe there is a strong case to change the system of health and disability benefits across Great Britain so that it better enables people to enter and remain in work, to respond to the complex and fluctuating nature of the health conditions many people live with today.'
Labour has said its coming reforms are necessary to balance government spending, but several leading charities including the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and Disability Rights UK have warned that the new consultation for the changes 'must not be a sham.'
Anela Anwar, chief executive of anti-poverty charity Z2K, who co-ordinated the letter, said: 'It is deeply disappointing to learn that this government wants to revive the previous government's discredited and dangerous plans to remove vital financial support for seriously ill and disabled people.
'The government should abandon these cruel and poorly thought-out plans. And when it comes to consulting on hugely important changes to the benefits system, this government must not repeat the mistakes of the previous one. We need to a see a genuine consultation that gives disabled people a proper chance to respond to plans which could see them plunged into deep poverty.'
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