Disability benefits system ‘not working’ Timms review finds

People outside the Houses of Parliament protesting over the government's Welfare Reform Bill last year. Photograph: Wiktor Szymanowicz/Future Publishing/ View image in fullscreen People outside the Houses of Parliament protesting over the government's Welfare Reform Bill last year. Photograph: Wiktor Szymanowicz/Future Publishing/ Disability benefits system ‘not working’ Timms review finds Interim report into Pip found process had systematic and deep-rooted problems and required bold and radical overhaul A landmark government review of disability benefits has warned “challenging discussions” remain on how to overhaul and pay for a system it concludes is unfit for purpose and too often leaves vulnerable claimants dehumanised and degraded. The Timms review of the personal independence payment (Pip) concluded the benefit, claimed by nearly 4 million people in England and Wales, suffered from systematic and deep-rooted problems that had undermined public trust in the benefits system. Its interim report, published on Thursday, concluded Pip was “not working” and committed to making bold and radical proposals to overhaul the benefit to ensure it continued to support disabled people “both now and into the future”. It said the onerous Pip application process and the hostile eligibility assessments claimants undergo to maintain their benefit could be so distressing and “soul destroying” that they led people to give up work and their social lives. What is the Timms review into Pip and what is it likely to conclude? “People describe Pip as something that ‘breaks’ them, rather than a support that enables them to live independently and participate in society,” it said, citing an individual who gave evidence to the review. But the review also indicated there would be no blank cheque and any changes it proposed in its final report to ministers later this year would have to be sustainable within current official Pip spending projections. While Pip helped disabled and chronically ill people live independently, it was “unclear if other forms of support would be more effective”, it said, leaving open the possibility that non-cash alternatives may be proposed in the final report. “Pip cannot be everything to everybody so as the review looks at the role and purpose of Pip, the steering group will have some challenging discussions,” the report said. Its final recommendations, which will probably land on the desk of a new prime minister and chancellor in the autumn, will have to balance meaningful reform of a dysfunctional system it accepts has badly let down disabled people with political pressure to keep a lid on social security spending.