PIP announcement sees disabled pensioners relieved from repeat assessments
In a speech delivered by the Work and Pensions Secretary Rt Hon Amber Rudd MP to Scope, disabled pensioners will no longer have to endure repeat assessments to continue receiving PIP.
Personal Independence Payment (PIP) is a financial benefit designed to support people with the associated extra costs as a result of their long-term health conditions, disabilities or reduced mobility, which could help them purchase essential mobility aids or housing adaptations.
However, from spring, 270,000 people in Britain will be free from having their PIP regularly reviewed.
Currently, people receiving PIP are required to be reassessed and reviewed annually or every few years, depending on the severity of the condition. This review process is designed to ensure people are receiving fair payments to cope with their disability or condition.
However, the new change means that pensioners will only be reviewed every 10 years and that they may be able to fill in a form rather than seeing an assessor in person.
As well as the latest PIP change, Amber Rudd MP also said: “I will be reviewing our goal to get one million more disabled people in work by 2027. We can do more, and I want to set a new and more ambitious goal.”
Despite the positive news, disabled campaigners have criticised PIP for still leaving many other people in a “failing system.”
Genevieve Edwards, Director of External Affairs at the MS Society, commented: “While it’s good news that older disabled people will no longer have to go through unnecessary and stressful reassessments, millions of others will still be stuck in a failing system.
“The fact 83% of people with MS who appeal their PIP cases win shows how bad the current assessment process is.”
This is not the first time PIP has been criticised. At the beginning of January 2019, 23 percent of people in Sunderland receiving disability benefits had their payments stopped due to the PIP scheme, which Scope described as “deeply worrying.”
