The UK government is set to reveal plans to overhaul the country’s disability benefits system, amid concerns that the benefits bill is increasing at an unsustainable rate. While the government believes that changes are necessary to ensure that those who need support the most receive it, disability charity Scope has described the potential reforms as a “reckless assault on disabled people”. Proposed changes to personal independence payments (PIP), a non-means-tested benefit paid to working-age people to help with the extra cost of long-term disabilities or ill health, could see an end to cash payments, with claimants instead receiving one-off grants for items such as home adaptations.
Around 3.3 million people in the UK receive PIP, with the amount received determined by the level of difficulty an applicant has with everyday tasks such as mobility or personal care. The maximum weekly payment is currently £184.30, which can be used to cover various additional expenses, from specialist diets to taxi fares to medical appointments. In England and Wales, the number of monthly new claimants for PIP where the main condition was anxiety and depression increased from 2,200 a month in 2019 to 5,300 a month in 2020.
Proposed changes to the PIP system would also consider adding new descriptors to ensure a more accurate evaluation of claimants’ extra costs while also assessing whether those with long-term conditions need to be assessed at all. The government’s expected spending on PIP is set to rise by 52% from 2023/24 to £32.8bn by 2027/28.
While some recipients of PIP see it as a “last stronghold” of benefits that supports them, others, like Paul Harris, feel that it does not go far enough. Harris receives £72.65 a week in PIP payments to support him with the extra costs related to his anxiety and depression. Although he also receives employment and support allowance, he is not eligible to claim job seekers’ allowance because he believes his mental health is a barrier to finding work. Harris believes that mental health support needs to be extended beyond a few sessions of NHS-funded cognitive behavioural therapy, saying that it is like telling a cancer patient they can only receive ten sessions of chemotherapy.
Executive director of strategy at disability equality charity Scope, James Taylor, has criticised the government’s proposals, saying he had “hard[ly] any faith that this consultation is about anything other than cutting the benefits bill, no matter the impact”. However, Work and Pensions Secretary Mel Stride defended the move, and described it as part of the UK’s “biggest welfare reforms in a generation
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