They're Taking the PIP

Overlaying a semi-transparent background image of a person on a sofa, under a throw, with their hand pushing against their forehead, a Twitter/X tweet design shows the birds element of the Equal Lives logo, user as ‘Equal Lives’, and the quote, ‘It is impossible to make a population less sick and Disabled by increasing rates of poverty’.

The government recently leaked plans to make £6 billion of cuts to welfare spending, £5 billion of which will come from Personal Independence Payment (PIP), an in-work welfare benefit, specifically designed to mitigate the unavoidable additional costs of living with a disability.

These are set to be the biggest benefit cuts since the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) was created in 2010, and are set to impact millions of the nation's most marginalised people.

We have been waiting eight months for the government to announce their plans to reform the benefit system. We support some proposals, such as the introduction of a 'right to try' work without loss of benefits, those with 'life-long' disabilities not having to face repeated reassessment, as well as the scrapping of the Work Capability Assessment (WCA).

However, it is concerning that the government have chosen not to consult with the public on some key areas, such as the introduction of 'an additional requirement for people to score at least 4 points in one daily living activity to be eligible for the daily living part of PIP'.

That PIP is the benefit facing most extreme cuts is baffling for many reasons. Firstly, PIP is not an out-of-work benefit. These proposed cuts will hit all Disabled people - those in work, those looking and those who can't work - and will hamper the capacity of many Disabled workers to maintain their employment status.

We agree that the welfare system needs reform, and we agree that more must be done to support Disabled people who are able to work to do so in a sustainable way, but cuts to PIP will do the opposite.

Overlaying a semi-transparent background image of two seated people, one using a wheelchair, the Twitter/X tweet design shows the birds element of the Equal Lives logo, user as ‘anonymous’, and the quote, ‘I have multiple complex disabilities and I am in work, but I wouldn’t be able to keep working if my PIP was removed. PIP allows me to employ a PA’.

It is impossible to make a population less sick and Disabled through increasing rates of poverty, as evidenced by all of human history and every scientific study on this. Making the PIP eligibility criteria harder to meet, as is being proposed, will plunge a huge cohort of the Disabled people who are currently able to work into such great precarity, they will be unable to continue working.

If getting Disabled people into sustained employment is the aim, it makes far more sense to put pressure on landlords to offer accessible offices, and on employers to make reasonable adjustments.

It took Equal Lives two years to find a wheelchair accessible office space in Norwich. If we face these challenges as a disability rights organisation, how likely is it organisations without experience of disability will be able to find an accessible office or consider it necessary?

Secondly, nearly half of poverty in the UK is directly associated with disability. Policy makers know this, and they know the systems Disabled people need to live are not adequate. Too many people with disabilities already live with extreme deficits in care. You cannot cut the lifeline that is PIP while ignoring the crisis in social care until 2028, as the government are planning to.

Thirdly, there is no evidence PIP is easier to claim now than in the past, or that the number of claimants has increased beyond the rate of disability and chronic health conditions. After fourteen years of austerity and a mismanaged pandemic, the nation’s health is naturally poorer, and this reality is magnified for Disabled people, who face many more barriers to achieving the same standard of living as our non-disabled counterparts.

Overlaying a semi-transparent background image of a family of three viewed from behind, with a child in the middle, walking along a sandy beach, with the Twitter/X tweet design shows the birds element of the Equal Lives logo, user as ‘anonymous’, and the quote, ‘‘Evidence, especially for fluctuating conditions can be used as proof you are lying, not that you’re complex. Being too well spoken or articulate can be used against you, as can filling out the form without help’.

Again, if ‘fiscal responsibility’ is the approach the government are taking, reforming the systemic failings of the benefit assessment process, which wastes huge amounts of taxpayers’ money, should be part of that and does not appear to be mentioned in the government's Green Paper.

Since 2013, the DWP has spent over £700 million on challenging disability benefit appeals and associated expenses. His Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Service data from March last year shows that while large numbers of claimants are denied PIP following their initial assessment, those who reach the tribunal stage of appeal, where they are assessed by an independent panel, are, in most cases (approximately 70%), awarded the benefit.  

Just 2% of these appeals going in favour of the claimant during 2022 were based on new evidence. This means that initial assessors are looking at the same information the tribunal panel are, and are assessing the same person, yet assessors are routinely underestimating or underreporting the reality of these claimants’ disability status at the assessment stage.

This is not a ‘fiscally responsible’ approach that engenders ‘trust’ and ‘fairness’ in the assessment process, two purported aims of the proposals.

Overlaying a semi-transparent background image of a person’s hands as they use a Braille book, with the Twitter/X tweet design showing the birds element of the Equal Lives logo, user as ‘anonymous’, and the quote, ‘It doesn’t make sense that an assessor who has no knowledge of my condition is being given the power to override my medical evidence from experts, putting me through months of needless stress awaiting tribunal.’

And this doesn’t include the social cost of so many Disabled people being put through long waits without money and through stressful appeals. Many claimants report acquiring new health conditions, especially mental health conditions including PTSD. As a disability rights organisation, we often see the ways the obstructions that are a feature of the existing benefit system make Disabled people more disabled.

Overlaying a semi-transparent background image a wheelchair user from behind, with the Twitter/X tweet design showing the birds element of the Equal Lives logo, user as ‘anonymous’, and the quote, ‘To hear myself be described as a problem to be solved is heartbreaking. I need assistance, financial and otherwise, that’s all. My morals and existence shouldn’t be up for debate’.

For years, Disabled people, Disabled people’s organisations and, indeed, the UN, have been calling for an end to the cruel and woeful inadequacy of the UK’s benefit system. We are a charity, and as such, we have been the last option for many Disabled people throughout the past fourteen years of austerity.

The irresponsible way in which the proposals were leaked has created psychological distress, resulting in increased suicidality among our members and the wider disability community.

There is a total disconnect between the approach the government have taken and the dire level of need they know exists among our Disabled population. Rejigging the PIP assessment criteria so they are harder to meet and pretending mental illness isn’t a valid disability does nothing to decrease the level of disablement people live with.

To our Members; we will be sharing resources to support you once the Spring Statement is announced. If you are unable to work, please remember your life is no less valid or meaningful. You are not alone, we are fighting for your rights and working to influence policy. Solidarity to those making it out to protests - please wear N95 or other high quality masks for the safety of our community.

None of these changes will happen immediately. MP's are set to vote on the cuts in parliament soon, and there will likely be great resistance, as neither the moral or economic arguements for them are rooted in good evidence. As the Green Paper makes its way through parliament, there may be legal challenges to the approach being taken.

In the meantime, this is a call to action:

1. If you have the capacity to fill out the template form Inclusion London have created to help you contact your local MP, please do. If you can encourage others to do the same, even better.

2. The government have launched the 'Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper', detailing their plans, which you can learn more about and respond to here. The consultation will run until 30 June 2025.

   
   

Equal Lives' Campaign Team