The Personal Independence Payment is a benefit which can help make sure people have enough money to cover the extra costs they may incur if they need help doing everyday tasks or have difficulty getting around outside their home. It is replacing the Disability Living Allowance for working age people in England, Scotland and Wales. If you currently receive DLA, you’ll be reassessed for PIP at some point before October 2017.
A person’s eligibility for PIP depends on how much help they actually need. It doesn’t matter if you don’t actually get this help, as long as you can show that you really need it.
PIP has two components. These are:
- a daily living component – for help with everyday life, for example dressing, eating, decision making
- a mobility component – for help with getting around
You can claim PIP if you are between the ages of 16 and 64 years old.
People aged 65 and over who have care needs can claim Attendance Allowance.
You can claim PIP once you have had problems with daily living or mobility for at least three months, and you expect those problems to continue for at least another nine months.
You can get PIP even if:
- you are working
- you have not paid any National Insurance contributions
- you are getting other benefits, such as Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)
- your partner or spouse works
- you have savings
- you live alone and no-one is providing care for you
- you already have someone, a partner for example, providing care for you
- you don’t want anyone to provide care for you
If you’d like to claim PIP you’ll need to complete a claim form. You may also have to attend a face to face assessment. At the moment the PIP assessment has two parts where by people score points depending on how they can perform different activities.
The introduction of Personal Independence Payments was intended to create a more modern and dynamic benefit that:
- Enabled support to be targeted at those with the greatest need;
- Was financially sustainable;
- Considered needs arising from all impairment types equally, giving parity of esteem between mental and physical health conditions; and
- Determined awards consistently and objective
The DWP has now developed a more objective assessment that will help determine a person’s entitlement to Personal Independence Payments. Most people will have a face to face consultation with an independent health professional. The assessment will look at a person’s ability to complete ten daily living activities and two mobility activities. Regular reviews have also been introduced to ensure that claimants receive the right level of support. Assessors use a series of descriptors to describe the claimant’s ability to carry out each task. Each descriptor has a point score with higher scores indicating a greater level of additional costs.
The PIP assessment takes in to account claimants need to use aids and appliances to complete the activities which are being assessed. The use of an aid can score two points. This is the lowest level and reflects the fact that many aids are widely available at relatively low cost and are easy to use. As highlighted by the first independent review of the PIP assessment by Paul Gray, this policy does not appear to be working as intended. 105 cases were therefore reviewed by DWP doctors.
The results of this review suggest that significant numbers of people who are likely to have low or minimal additional costs are being awarded the daily living component of the benefit solely because they may benefit from aids and appliances across a number of the activities, despite the relatively low point score awarded for them.
In the future the government will regularly assess Personal Independence Payments to ensure that it is delivering the policy intent of a modern, objective and financially sustainable benefit that is focused on those with the greatest need.
Public views are being sought as whether to change the way aids and appliances are taken in to account when determining a person’s entitlement to the daily living component.
The consultation is aimed at
The Department is keen to hear views from all interested parties, especially disabled people and disability organisations.
Scope of the consultation
This consultation applies to England, Wales and Scotland because social security is devolved in Northern Ireland. However, we would welcome comments from individuals and organisations in Northern Ireland, which we will then share with the Department for Social Development.
Duration of the consultation
The consultation has run from 10 December 2015 and will finish on the 29 January 2016. Stakeholder events will be arranged during the consultation. The dates and locations of these events will be available on GOV.UK.
How to respond to the consultation
Please send your responses to:
PIP Policy Team
Department for Work and Pensions
Ground floor, Caxton House
Tothill Street
London
SW1H 9NA
PIP.consultationfeedback@dwp.gsi.gov.uk
Please ensure your response reaches the department by 5pm on 29 January 2016.
When responding, please state whether you are doing so as an individual or representing the views of an organisation. If you are responding on behalf of an organisation, please make it clear who the organisation represents and, where applicable, how the views of members were assembled. Your response will be acknowledged. Your response may also be followed up; if you would prefer us not to do so, please let us know in your reply.
Until the consultation has completed, a decision made on whether changes should be made and until any regulations to enact these changes come into force, there will be a continuation with the operation of PIP using the current regulations and assessment criteria.
How responses will be used
The personal information you send us may need to be passed to other colleagues working within the Department for Work and Pensions in order for us to conduct the consultation.
An anonymised version of your response may be published in a list of responses, in a summary of responses received, and in any subsequent review reports and may be sent to colleagues in other government departments or organisations. It may also be requested under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
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