A think tank has revealed up to 1.2 million disabled people may lose at least some of their government support, after Liz Kendall’s decision to change the Personal Independence Payments (PIPs) budget. Under the Work and Pensions Secretary’s changes the PIPs budget may be cut by £5bn, meaning disabled people with conditions deemed less severe than others may see their state aid reduced or lost altogether, the Resolution Foundation has warned.
PIPs are made of two components – daily living and mobilitity. The new plans will tighten up who is eligible for the daily living element of PIPs. Under the changed scheme, applicants will need to rank the difficulty with which they can do essential daily tasks like preparing food, washing, and getting dressed, on a scale of zero to 12. From November 2026, to receive the benefit applicants will need to score at least four points.
According to the Resolution Foundation, if the change to the PIPs system saves £5bn by 2030 as it is predicted it could, it will see “between 800,000 and 1.2 million people losing support of either £4,200 (if receiving the standard rate Daily Living element) or £6,300 (if on the enhanced rate Daily Living element) a year by 2029-30′.
The foundation said some disabled people are more at risk of losing their support than others.
According to the think tank: “Those losing out will be the people who would currently qualify for the Daily Living element of PIP, but score under four points in each of the 10 headings.
“For example, this will include people who have lower-level needs across a range of activities (like needing aids or appliances to cook, take nutrition, wash and bathe, and dress and undress) but who are not deemed to be completely unable to complete any of these activities. Meanwhile, people who experience large difficulties across one or more of the PIP activities will be unaffected.”
The researchers noted three specific conditions that could be insulated from the changes. The group said: “The DWP has not released any evidence on the impact of these changes, but what we can say (based on previously-released data) is that people with conditions including learning difficulties, cerebral palsy and autism are least likely to be affected.”
It continued that people “receiving PIP and with these conditions are most likely to score 21 points or more in the Daily Living part of the PIP assessment, meaning they are very unlikely to have passed the assessment without scoring four or more points in one of the headings.”
During Prime Minister’s Questions, Sir Keir Starmer defended the changes, asserting that the existing PIPs system was “morally and economically indefensible”.
