Today the first official independent review of the troubled disability benefit, Personal Independence Payment (PIP), has been released.
Meanwhile, the government has released the latest statistics on how the benefit is being rolled out.
Claire Nurden, Senior Policy Officer and co-chair of DBC, said:
“This review highlights that Personal Independence Payment is not yet fit for purpose. People are facing serious delays of more than a year in some cases, and claimants are finding the process confusing. Too often, they cannot get the information they need to understand what they need to do. This is causing unnecessary stress. Processes for collecting essential information about claims are not working properly. In some cases, disabled people are being forced to go through another assessment for the benefit years before they were originally told they would have to re-apply.
More than 4 in 10 people are still waiting for their PIP claim to be fully processed. Many of those left waiting, or those who have received an incorrect decision, are left in financial turmoil, isolated and unable to access the support they need, like transport to hospital appointments, wheelchairs or help around the home.
Alarm bells need to ring in Government. Urgent work must be done to improve the process. The test must not be extended to more people until it is proven that these problems have been addressed”.
Disability Benefits Consortium 