The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has announced an immediate change to Personal Independence Payment (PIP) assessments, allowing them to be recorded, in a bid to 'rebuild claimants' trust'. The move comes after years of criticism over the assessment process, which many disabled people have described as opaque and unfair.
Reaction from Disability Advocate
Georgina Colman, founder of Purpl, a disability advocacy organization, welcomed the change as a positive step towards improving transparency and accountability. She said: 'For many people living with disabilities and chronic health conditions, PIP assessments are already physically and emotionally draining. Claimants often have to spend hours explaining deeply personal details about how their condition affects daily life, only to receive a decision that does not reflect the reality of what they shared.'
Colman added: 'Too many people come away feeling unheard, disbelieved or misrepresented by an assessment report that fails to capture the conversation they actually had. Recording assessments as standard could be an important step towards rebuilding trust in the system. A clear audio record gives claimants reassurance, supports greater accountability, and may help reduce disputes when people feel their assessment report does not reflect what was actually said.'
Claimant Experience Highlights Flaws
Prajakta Jyoti, 20, from Milton Keynes, lives with several chronic health conditions, including adenomyosis, endometriosis, Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS) and Crohn's disease. She has applied for PIP twice in recent years but has been denied on both occasions. Speaking about her experience, she said: 'They hear everything I say, they talk to me for two to three hours and say, "You don't get any points." It just sounded like they were saying that I was faking it, and at that point, I was pretty much bedridden with my condition. It doesn't make any sense.'
Limitations of Recording
Colman also cautioned that recording alone will not fix deeper problems within the PIP system. She said: 'Assessments still need to be fair, consistent and carried out by people who properly understand chronic, fluctuating and invisible conditions. This change should be seen as a starting point, not the finish line. Disabled people must be listened to, believed, and placed at the heart of any wider reform.'
The DWP has not yet specified when the recording option will be fully rolled out or how claimants can request it. The change applies immediately, but details on implementation remain unclear.
