Government admits PIP is not fit for purpose

The disability Minister Sir Stephen Timms has described Personal Independence Payment (PIP) as not fit for purpose, with the interim findings of his review highlighting concerns that many claimants find the assessment process dehumanising.

For brain injury survivors, this conclusion will come as no surprise. Headway has long campaigned for improvements to the PIP assessment process, consistently highlighting how the hidden, complex and fluctuating effects of brain injury are often poorly understood by assessors and not fully reflected in assessment criteria.

Luke Griggs, Chief Executive, said: “Brain injury survivors have repeatedly told us that the PIP assessment process is degrading, immensely stressful and inconsistent with poor levels of understanding of brain injury amongst assessors.

“While it is positive that the government has finally accepted that the system is broken, the key question is what the government plans to do to fix it.

“We recognise that wider welfare costs are of concern to the government, but cutting crudely and indiscriminately would do more harm than good.

In its submission to the Timms Review, Headway called for mandatory brain injury training for all benefits assessors, greater recognition of fluctuating and non-visible disabilities, and reforms that help ensure decisions are right first time. These changes would create a fairer system for claimants while reducing the stress, delays and cost associated with appeals and tribunals.

The charity’s evidence included the experience of brain injury survivor Marco Gambi, from Wiltshire, who spent two years appealing after initially being denied PIP following a life-changing brain injury.

Marco said: “It took me two years to be allocated PIP originally. I went through mandatory reconsideration appeals and then to a tribunal. The mental anguish itself of going through all that – it’s a lot.”

He added: “They don’t know the full story. They’re just going by what they see for 10 minutes on that day.

Luke added: “This review presents a huge opportunity to create a fairer system. We welcome the suggestion of ‘a sweeping overhaul of the assessment system’, but this has to be done transparently and in conjunction with charity sector condition-specific experts.

The final report is due out later this year.