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PRIME Minister Rishi Sunak has outlined a package of sweeping reforms to put work at the heart of welfare and deliver on his “moral mission” to give everyone who is able to work, the best possible chance of staying in, or returning to work.
The Prime Minister has announced that the disability benefits system is set to be reformed to ensure it’s more accurately targeted at those who need it most and delivers the right kind of support for people with disabilities and health conditions.
A consultation on Personal Independence Payment (PIP) will be published soon which will explore changes to the eligibility criteria, assessment process and types of support that can be offered so the system is better targeted towards individual needs and more closely linked to a person’s condition rather than the current “one size fits all” approach.
It comes as many more working age people are being awarded PIP for mental health conditions than when it was first introduced over a decade ago, as well as concerns that the assessment process is significantly easier to game by individuals who seek to exploit the system.
In 2019, there were an average of around 2,200 new PIP awards a month in England and Wales where the main condition was anxiety and depression. That number has more than doubled to 5,300 a month last year. This is driving up the cost of the disability benefits bill at an unsustainable rate and PIP spending alone is expected to grow by 52 per cent from 2023/24 to £32.8bn by 2027/28.
