DWP PIP changes update as claimants face ‘real harm’ | Personal Finance | Finance

PIP claimants may be wondering what changes could come in as a major review of the benefit takes place.

The DWP is currently carrying out a review of the benefit, that supports people with a range of health conditions.

PIP (Personal Independence Payment) helps cover the extra costs of living with a long-term health condition or disability. Payments range from £29.20 a week up to £187.45 a week, depending on how much your condition affects you.

The Government is currently carrying out a review of the benefit, looking at all aspects of how the benefit works, including the assessments that claimants often have to go through, to decide how much they should get.

The purpose of the review as stated in a Government document is to ensure the benefit is “fair and fit for the future in a changing world, and helps support disabled people to achieve better health, higher living standards and greater independence, including through employment”.

Nor more than 50 charities have signed an open letter urging ministers to ensure the review is geninely co-produced with disabled people. The DWP previously said it would speak with disabled people and the organisations that represent them, in carrying out the review.

The groups that have signed the letter want the Government to provide more detail about how charities will be engaged, beyond a steering group that will be set up as part of the project. Financial support group Turn2us signed the letter.

Lucy Bannister, head of Policy and Influencing at Turn2us, said: “Our research shows that the PIP assessment can cause real harm, which is why we welcome this review and its commitment to co-production.

“However, real co-production requires time and planning from all involved if people’s voices are to genuinely shape the review. We are therefore asking the government to set out, as soon as possible, when and how charities and disabled people beyond the steering group will be able to take part, so that we can prepare to contribute meaningfully. Getting this right is essential to rebuilding trust in the DWP and the wider social security system.”

Changes to PIP eligibility

The Government set out plans last year to tighten the eligibility rules for PIP, to make it more difficult to qualify for the daily living part of the benefit. This pays either £73.90 a week at the lower rate or £110.40 a week at the higher rate.

There is also a mobility part, which pays £29.20 a week or £77.05 a week. You can get one part while not getting anything for the other. When the changes were set out, many MPs opposed the plans.

As a result, ministers said they would not make any changes to qualifying rules until the review is concluded. Anti-poverty charity Z2K also signed the letter. Rose Grayston, interim director of Policy & Engagement at Z2K, said: “The Timms Review will only succeed if it earns the trust of all the people it directly affects.

“That means transparency and power sharing, and engaging with disabled people living in poverty who will be most impacted by the review’s changes. For them, PIP is the difference between stability and crisis.”

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