PIP will be applied case by case to disabilities that are either permanent or get worse.
The list of Personal Independence Payment conditions could be scrapped by the Labour Party government as part of brutal changes being announced by Liz Kendall today. In the Times, it is reported rather than a list of conditions, PIP will be applied case by case to disabilities that are either permanent or get worse.
For those with other conditions, however, Ms Kendall is expected to signal more frequent reassessments. It remains unclear whether more reviews will be face to face, too, the newspaper’s Chris Smyth has today reported.
A switch to remote assessments since Covid has been suggested as a reason for more people having payments maintained rather than reduced. The Cabinet is united behind Government plans to take on the growing benefits bill, Pat McFadden has insisted.
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Asked whether the whole Cabinet supported the move, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster told Times Radio: “Yes, I believe the Cabinet is united behind taking on the issue of the growing benefits bill.”
He said the current system “leaves too many people in a permanent state of dependence on benefits without the opportunity of work.” Social security minister Sir Stephen Timms previously told the Commons that he is “sad” about the worries people have expressed over potential changes to sickness benefits.
Addressing MPs in the Commons on Monday, Sir Stephen said: “I am concerned about the level of anxiety there has been around over recent weeks and speculation, and I’m sad that that’s happened and that people have been concerned.
“But what I would say to her is that the current welfare system is failing the very people it is supposed to help, the people it’s there for, and our aim is to make the system sustainable so that it’ll be there for people now and in the future, and I think when she sees the proposals, she’ll see how we’re going to deliver on that commitment.”