Key cost-saving change on PIP re-assessments, as DWP offers new ways to engage with Timms Review

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has increased the number of disabled claimants who will face fewer reviews of their eligibility for personal independence payment (PIP).

The measures it is taking to reduce PIP reassessments – which apply to England and Wales – will save the department about £300 million because of the delayed increase in awards to claimants who fail to inform DWP about changes to their impairment.

DWP said claimants whose needs increase should still ask it to review their PIP award to ensure they do not miss out on more generous payments, despite the changes.

The measures on reducing PIP reviews were already being applied to many new PIP claimants, but regulations laid in parliament this week will also allow the department to reduce reassessments for many existing PIP claimants from 2 June.

Reviews of entitlement can now be set at a minimum of three years, rising to five years at the claimant’s next review if they remain entitled to PIP.

It is not clear how many claimants will be affected but the rules should now apply to most new and existing PIP claimants.

There will be some exceptions, including people with “severe and long term conditions”, who will continue to receive longer awards, and PIP claimants under the age of 25, who will still face more frequent reassessments.

The minister for social security and disability, Sir Stephen Timms (pictured), said it was an “important step” towards reforming the social security system “so that it better meets the needs of disabled people”.

He said: “This will make the system more efficient by freeing up the capacity of health professionals to tackle our inherited assessment backlog, while removing unnecessary pressure from disabled claimants whose conditions rarely change at each review.”

Sir Stephen also announced today (Thursday) that there would be more ways for disabled people, their organisations, and experts to engage with his ongoing PIP review.

He said these would include written evidence, local workshops, expert sessions, new survey-based research, and events to be held across the UK later in the year that will allow disabled people and others to “help shape the review’s final recommendations”.

Details of this engagement will be announced in the next few weeks, but the process will continue after the closing date of the existing call for evidence, which ends on 28 May and which – he told MPs on Monday – had already seen more than 10,000 responses.

DWP said that “early findings” from the review were expected “to begin informing policy analysis over the summer, with recommendation testing and refinement expected in the autumn”.

The review is expected to report to work and pensions secretary Pat McFadden in the autumn.

Dr Clenton Farquharson, co-chair of the review’s 15-strong steering group, said: “We need to hear what works, what does not, who is being missed, and what needs to change.

“This engagement programme matters because good evidence is not only about data.

“It is about real lives, real barriers and practical recommendations that can make the system fairer and fit for the future.”

Sharon Brennan, another co-chair, said: “Our engagement and evidence programme has been fully co-produced as a group of 15, with a focus on ensuring that our chosen mix of methods allows equitable access into the engagement process.

“We recognise that the Timms Review has the potential to have a significant impact on the lives of disabled people so it’s vital we hear the perspectives of as many people as possible.”