Welsh government raises ‘significant concerns’ with UK minister over PIP review coproduction

The Welsh government has raised “significant concerns” about the level of coproduction provided by the ongoing review of personal independence payment (PIP) and has called for an independent, disabled-led review to guide the design of any PIP replacement.

The criticism from Plaid Cymru’s Sioned Williams came in a meeting chaired by the UK government’s disability minister Sir Stephen Timms – who is leading the review – and attended by members of the PIP review’s steering group.

Her thoughts have now been shared with Disabled People Against Cuts Cymru (DPAC Cymru), which has been raising concerns about the Timms Review with the Welsh government and has spearheaded calls for a disabled-led independent review of disability benefits.

It came as the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) yesterday (Wednesday) called for disabled people to take part in 15 workshops in September and October that it says will “help shape recommendations” for the future of PIP.

In her letter to DPAC Cymru, Williams – the Welsh government’s deputy first minister – said she had recently attended a PIP review evidence session, where she “expressed the Welsh Government’s disappointment with the review process to date”.

She said she “highlighted significant concerns that opportunities for meaningful engagement have been limited, and the resulting level of co-production has fallen well short of what disabled people in Wales have a right to expect”.

She said this failed to mirror the approach adopted by the last Welsh (Labour-led) government when developing its Disabled People’s Rights Plan for Wales.

Following May’s Senedd elections, there is now a minority Plaid Cymru government in Wales.

Williams said she told Sir Stephen and the steering group that the next phase of the review “must be genuinely co-produced with disabled people and their representative organisations”.

She told DPAC Cymru: “I therefore urged the UK Government to consider commissioning an independent review, led by disabled people and developed in partnership with them, to inform the design of any future disability benefit.

“Such an approach will be essential in rebuilding the trust and credibility that many disabled people in Wales feel has been lacking throughout the review of PIP.”

She told DPAC Cymru that the Welsh government would “carefully consider” the “most effective way forward” once the UK government has responded to the PIP review’s recommendations, which are expected later this year.

Williams was responding to a letter from a coalition of organisations, led by DPAC Cymru, which asked the Welsh government to “take concrete steps to provide practical assistance in achieving our long standing demand: an independent and genuine disability review”.

DPAC Cymru has previously described the UK government’s PIP review as “a cynical distraction from falling living standards and a failing economy”.

It strongly believes that the review has not been genuinely co-produced and has sidelined Welsh disabled people, who it says have been “treated with particular contempt”.

Ben Golightly, from DPAC Cymru, said this week that the Welsh government’s letter “validates our concerns”, and had been “warmly received by members so far”.

But he said he personally believed that it was a “strategic mistake” for the Welsh government and other disabled people’s organisations to “wait and see what the end result of the Timms Review looks like”.

He told Disability News Service: “The Timms Review will be incapable of delivering a good result for disabled people because it is being carried out so undemocratically, and this has been demonstrated beyond all doubt.

“Parliament was promised coproduction with disabled people.

“We should not let the UK government get away with pretending that they’re delivering it.

“To do so is missing a historic opportunity to create a DWP that actually works for disabled people.

“If not, we’ll be back here in another decade, reviewing why ‘PIP 2’ ended up expensive and unfit for purpose too.”

Bee, a DPAC Cymru member, called for a commitment from the Welsh government to push for further devolution on social security “so that they can make their own independent decisions”.

Bee said: “One of the problems with the Timms Review is that Welsh issues are repeatedly overlooked or we’re told are ‘out of scope’.”

A DWP spokesperson said: “We recognise the importance of engaging regularly with the Welsh government and other stakeholders in Wales to ensure that voices are being heard on a range of issues, including the Timms Review.

“This is the first time the UK government has committed to co-production on this scale, putting disabled people at the heart of policymaking, with an extensive engagement programme including a call for evidence that received over 38,000 responses.

“The Timms Review interim report is clear that PIP is no longer fit for purpose, and the final recommendations due this autumn will lay the foundation for deep, sustainable reform.”

The PIP Review steering group said this week that the 15 workshops that are intended to shape its recommendations will take place across the UK in September and October.

Dr Clenton Farquharson, one of the review’s co-chairs, said the workshops’ purpose was “not simply to hear people’s experiences, but to test the review’s emerging recommendations against real lives and understand what could make them fairer, clearer and work better in practice.

“Most importantly, I am committed to showing how what people tell us influences the recommendations we ultimately make.”

Registration for the workshops closes on Friday 21 August at 5pm.

Those chosen to attend will be offered a fee and expenses.

The review’s final recommendations are expected later in the autumn, but they will have to be approved by work and pensions secretary Pat McFadden.

Picture: A DPAC Cymru protest in Cardiff in June 2025