The Resolution Foundation has recommended that the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) replace the current monthly Personal Independence Payment (PIP) handouts with a system that includes one-off payouts for capital items. The recommendation, made to the Labour Party government, follows analysis showing that one-in-six (16 per cent) working-age PIP recipients do not report extra costs linked to their disability.
Proposed three-element PIP system
The think tank's recommendations state that a function test should remain at the heart of the PIP system, but assessments should also include a discussion of what extra costs claimants experience and what would help them participate more in the wider world.
According to the Resolution Foundation, there should be three elements that a decision maker can award a claimant: an ongoing cash element to contribute to additional costs; a capped one-off payment for capital items such as aids and adaptations; and a participation element, usually delivered through local services, designed to build claimants’ capacity to engage with society.
More frequent, lower-stakes engagement
The recommendations also call for more frequent but lower-stakes engagement with DWP, including light-touch check-ins between formal reviews. Each element of an award could be reviewed separately, and the cadence of reviews should be tailored to people’s conditions.
The think tank notes that young people will disproportionately benefit from the introduction of a ‘participation element’, but the need for cash awards for young PIP claimants remains.
Why one-off payments are needed
Instead of keeping DWP PIP at its current rate, which is ballooning and causing some concern, the Resolution Foundation recommends a one-off payout for claimants. It could be used for costs such as aids and adaptations.
The think tank says: "The capital element would be a non-recurring cash payment that would contribute to ‘one-off’ costs, like buying aids or equipment or making adaptations to a home or vehicle. In our view, this element is needed to reflect the reality of many PIP recipients’ lives: three-in-ten (30 per cent) report having higher costs relating to paying for aids or appliances (e.g. wheelchairs), while more than one-in-five (22 per cent) report having costs relating to making one-off adaptations to their home or vehicle."
The Resolution Foundation argues that this element is needed because an ongoing cash payment is not the best way of targeting these costs; it would lead to some recipients receiving more money than is needed, while others will struggle without the equipment or adaptations that would support their functioning as they save up their ongoing cash payments for months or years until they can afford a costly expense.
Many PIP recipients have complex conditions and often remain on the benefit for a long time, which the report acknowledges in its call for a more flexible and tailored approach to reviews and awards.
