Stop DWP repeating PIP assessments for disabled people

Stop DWP repeating Personal Independence Payments assessments for disabled people.

Disabled people need support and respect. We think repeated investigations are dehumanising, and interrogation-like interviews and repeated legal battles to prove entitlements to benefits are distressing.

People with genuine disabilities have to repeatedly provide Doctors notes, letters and prescription information (sometimes at personal cost) simply to prove their ongoing entitlement. We believe a decision to end entitlement should be a medical decision not a cost-saving exercise.

DWP and the Assessment Providers (APs) recognise that attending a Personal Independence Payment (PIP) assessment could be a stressful experience, which is why they do not conduct face-to-face, telephone or video assessments where there is enough paper evidence to determine benefit entitlement, including on a review of an existing award.

Entitlement to PIP is assessed on the basis of the needs arising from a health condition or disability, rather than the health condition or disability itself. Key to the benefit is an objective assessment, which allows us to assess individuals’ needs accurately and consistently. People can have different circumstances and be affected in different ways by the same condition, so the assessment measures the impact of a person’s health condition or impairment on their needs, rather than focusing solely on the health condition or impairment itself.

Once someone has been awarded PIP, which can be paid at one of eight rates, that award will either be reviewed or the claimant will be required to submit a new claim. Reviews are a key feature of the benefit and ensure that payments accurately match the current needs of claimants and ensure we hold up to date information. Award durations are based on an individual’s circumstances and can vary from nine months to an on-going award which is subject to a light touch review at the 10-year point.

Guidance ensures that where needs are unlikely to change and for those on the highest level of support whose needs will not improve, claimants receive an on-going award with a light touch review at the 10-year point.

Claimants who have a light touch review have a simplified, short form, focussing on how a claimant’s ability to do certain everyday tasks and move around may have changed. In most of these cases we do not expect an assessment with a healthcare professional will be required unless there has been a change of circumstances which affects those abilities.

Evidence plays an important role in coming to decisions on claims or award review ensuring the Department comes to the right outcome first time, and with less likelihood of the decision being disputed. Information provided to claimants tells them what information is helpful, that they should only provide us with information they already have and further instructs them not to pay for additional information, for instance from a GP.

Health Professionals (HPs) employed by the APs are trained to treat claimants sensitively, fairly and with respect and are professional clinicians who use their skills in disability analysis, informal observation and examination, to provide an impartial, independent and factual assessment to the Department. The PIP assessment is not a medical assessment requiring the assessor to diagnose a condition or its severity and recommend treatment options – the focus is on ensuring that the HPs are experts in disability analysis, focusing on the effects of health conditions and impairments on the individual’s daily life.

We work extensively with suppliers to make improvements to guidance, training, and audit procedures to ensure a quality service. The department is clear that suppliers should strive for 100% accuracy. We want every report produced by the APs to reflect a high-quality functional assessment that the department can use to make their benefit entitlement decisions.

It is our aim to make the right decision as early as possible in the claim journey. To support this, we have made improvements to our decision-making processes to help ensure people get the support they are entitled to without needing to appeal. This includes giving Decision Makers additional time to proactively contact customers if they think additional evidence may support the claim. On PIP, 3.2 million initial decisions following an assessment have been made between July 2019 and June 2024; 7% have been appealed, 4% have been cleared at a tribunal hearing and 3% have been overturned.

The Government is committed to reforming the system of health and disability benefits so that it promotes and enables employment among as many people as possible. The system must also work to support disabled people to live independently. It is also vital to ensure that the system is financially sustainable in the long term.

We are working to develop proposals for reform in the months ahead and will set them out in a Green Paper ahead of the Spring Statement later this year. The Green Paper will include proposals intended to enable further improvement in assessment quality.

Department for Work and Pensions