The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has issued a statement as the number of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) claimants surpasses four million for the first time. Data published by the DWP reveals that 4.01 million people were entitled to claim PIP as of April this year. The DWP expects to spend £32 billion on disability benefits for adults and pensioners in the current financial year alone.
Political Reactions and Proposed Reforms
Helen Whately, the Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, stated that the Conservative Party would make the system “fair and affordable again.” She announced details of a review of PIP as part of the party’s pledge to cut the welfare bill by £23 billion. Ms Whately criticized the current system, saying: “Labour have let a sickness benefit crisis spiral out of control. We have a system that’s too quick to write people off and too slow to help them into work – and which is costing us a fortune at a time when we must boost Britain’s defences.” She added: “Instead of helping them into work and independence, our welfare state is signing them off and parking them on benefits. The Conservatives will review the entire PIP system, remove eligibility for low-level mental health PIP claims, rapidly assess hundreds of thousands of additional claims and get Britain working again.”
Pat McFadden, the Work and Pensions Secretary, has also warned that welfare reform “must happen.” Labour has commissioned Sir Stephen Timms, the Disability Minister, to review PIP. A Number 10 spokesperson said: “The broken system we inherited wrote nearly three million people off as too sick to work, left them off benefits, and saw the welfare bill rise by £88 billion over the last parliament and that's why we are reforming the system. Those reforms are already under way, and we will go even further, which also includes increasing face-to-face PIP assessments and tackling backlogs in work capability assessments, which has contributed to £1.9 billion pounds in savings by 2030.”
A DWP spokesperson commented: “We're fixing the broken system we inherited by creating a welfare state that works for disabled people and taxpayers and have launched the Timms Review – co-produced with disabled people and their representative organisations – to make sure PIP is fit and fair for the future.”
