DBC responds to the Personal Independence Payment (PIP) Consultation

NRAS is part of the Disability Benefits Consortium (DBC) of over fifty charities and other organisations committed to working towards a fair benefits system. Yesterday the group made a joint submission to the Department for Work and Pensions as its consultation on the initial draft criteria for the Personal Independence Payment assessment (PIP) came to a close.

The submission raises a number of concerns about issues, including:

•    Proposals to extend the qualification period for PIP to six months (qualification for the Disability Living Allowance is currently three months)
•    The narrow breadth of issues covered by the proposed descriptors for PIP compared to those covered in the existing Disability Living Allowance
•    The lack of information currently available on how scoring will be conducted for each of the PIP criteria
•    Inadequate assessment regarding the measurement of fluctuating conditions within the PIP criteria; and
•    Poor acknowledgment within the existing PIP criteria of the barriers created by reliance on mobility aids

The Personal Independence Payment (PIP) is a new benefit for disabled people, which was announced in the consultation paper Disability Living Allowance Reform in December 2010 and the Welfare Reform Bill, introduced in February 2011.

Further details about the benefit and the eligibility criteria can be found on the Department for Work and Pensions website, please click here to visit the site.

Please also click here to download a full copy of the DBC response.