PIP consultation: The key questions DWP is refusing to answer

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is refusing to say how many disabled people it expects to lose their disability benefits if it pushes ahead with controversial proposals for reforms and spending cuts.

The prime minister, Rishi Sunak, and the work and pensions secretary, Mel Stride, launched a 12-week consultation this week on plans for personal independence payment (PIP) in England and Wales they say would “make the disability benefits system fit for the future” and rein in the “spiralling” caseload and costs.

Sunak said: “It’s clear that our disability benefits system isn’t working in the way it was intended, and we’re determined to reform it to ensure it’s sustainable for the future, so we can continue delivering support to those who genuinely need it most.”

But despite asking the public for views on a series of possible major reforms – including making it harder to claim PIP and replacing cash-based payments with vouchers or one-off grants – neither the consultation nor its “evidence pack” include any figures showing how those changes would reduce the number of PIP claimants or spending on the benefit.

And neither Stride nor Sunak offered any clue to how much they wanted to cut spending or claimant numbers.

In contrast, the coalition government revealed in 2010 that it expected to cut the number of people claiming disability living allowance (DLA) – as well as spending on DLA – by a fifth when it announced it would be replacing it with PIP for working-age claimants from 2013.

This week’s evidence pack says the number of working-aged people receiving DLA and PIP has increased from 1.9 million in 2012-13 to 2.6 million in 2022-23, and is forecast to increase to four million in 2028-29.

But DWP declined yesterday (Wednesday) to provide any figures for how much it wanted to cut claimant numbers and spending, suggesting it was just starting a “conversation” and that its Modernising Support for Independent Living document was a consultation and not a white paper.

The department also refused to say what, if any, evidence it provided to Sunak ahead of a television interview with ITV News in which he claimed that PIP assessments were “often easily exploited and subject to unverifiable claims”.

In background information it provided to Disability News Service yesterday (Wednesday), DWP appeared to suggest that Sunak had made this comment because PIP claimants were not obliged to provide medical evidence.

But it had refused to comment further by noon today when asked again for any evidence that DWP provided to the prime minister that would show that PIP assessments were easily exploited.

Disabled people have been raising concerns for years about the harm caused by the assessment process, with a coroner reporting in January 2021 that flaws in the PIP system were “the predominant factor and the only acute factor” that led to a young disabled mother, Philippa Day, taking her own life.

DWP failed to respond this week to the suggestion that DWP civil servants can simply reject a PIP claim if a disabled person fails to provide medical evidence supporting their claim.

DWP’s own figures last year showed estimated PIP fraud was just 0.2 per cent of PIP spending in 2022-23.

The department has also refused to say why ministers believe the number of new PIP claims will continue to grow at the current rate.

DWP said the predictions of future growth in PIP claims were based on Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) forecasts and that previous OBR forecasts had underestimated future “caseload”, but it failed to explain why OBR believed the numbers would keep on rising even though the worst of the Covid pandemic had now passed.

A DWP spokesperson said in a statement: “Fairness and compassion are at the heart of our welfare system.

“That’s why we want to update PIP’s ‘one size fits all’ approach, recognising that people’s needs vary.

“The consultation will look at how we can modernise PIP to better protect people with the most severe conditions and provide tailored support to help disabled people live fulfilled and independent lives.

“We are inviting views from across society, including disabled people and representative organisations, so we can deliver the right support for disabled people and those with health conditions.”

But Inclusion London (see separate story) said the PIP proposals were “another brutal ideological attack on our rights, at a time when the UK’s welfare policies were yet again found by the UN to be leading to grave and systematic violations of disabled people’s rights”.

Autistic Nottingham said Sunak was “dashing the hopes of autistics who need PIP payments to survive and insulting their dignity by saying that they are abusing the system” and that his plans would put the lives of autistic people “in danger”, while Disability Rights UK said the government’s clear agenda was “to reduce the number of disabled people receiving the crucial support we rely on”.

The 12-week consultation closes on 23 July.

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