PIP reforms must not penalise mental health conditions, Rishi Sunak warned

Disability benefit reforms must not cut support with mental health conditions and better-trained assessors must be brought in to stop incorrect decisions, a leading charity has said.

Rishi Sunak has announced plans to reform personal independence payments (PIP) – benefits to help disabled people with the cost of living – in an attempt to bring down the welfare bill.

Ahead of the publication of a planned consultation on Monday, disability charity Scope said the PM’s focus on cutting the cost of disability benefits was not addressing the reasons behind an increase in debilitating health conditions.

Government sources stressed no decisions had been made as to what the reforms would consist of said ministers are keen for wide engagement from disabled people, their relatives and organisations representing them.

Mr Sunak said he wanted to overhaul PIP to make it more objective, hinting he would want to raise the threshold of eligibility to reduce the benefits bill.

Louise Rubin head of policy and campaigns at disability charity Scope said the charity was not against reform of the benefit but that she was “pretty horrified” by language used by Mr Sunak – who said he wanted to crack down on what he said was a “sicknote culture”.

Speaking to i, she criticised the fact the PIP reforms had been “bundled together and conflated with issues relating to sick notes and unemployment benefits”. “To conflate that with PIP as a disability benefit is really actually quite disingenuous,” she argued.

Scope is supportive of scrapping the Work Capability Assessment process of deciding whether someone should be signed off for work due to an illness. But she warned doing so alongside a tightened criteria for PIP could leave more people “with nowhere else to turn”.

“I think what’s got lost in all of the noise around the PM’s speech is that PIP is not an out of work benefit. It is there to help you with the extra cost of disability,” Ms Rubin said.

“We have been calling for reform of PIP. Whilst [the Government’s] starting point seems to be primarily cost cutting, ours is about all of the horror stories that we hear from disabled people day in and day out,” she added.

Scope research shows people “overwhelmingly” think the assessment process should be reformed because assessors “don’t understand the real-life impact of having a disability”.

“We have been calling for a right to ask for an appropriate assessor,” Mr Rubin said. “That means someone whose medical background is in the condition that you’ve got. Clearly we can’t cover every single circumstance, but to have brackets of speciality so that you’re seen by someone who understands what it’s like to live with your particular impairment.”

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She welcomed the suggestion by Mr Sunak that the changes would offer a “more tailored approach” to disability support but said the suggestion that people with some mental health illnesses might not require PIP was worrying.

“There’s been quite a lot of talk about mental health problems being almost too easy to claim PIP,” she said.

“We would definitely dispute that – it does not marry with what we hear from disabled people. In fact, it’s almost the complete reverse. We constantly hear from people that say the assessment doesn’t really capture what it’s like to live with mental health problems.

“And we’ve also heard the Prime Minister talking about people with mental health problems not needing as much financial support because it’s not as expensive. Again, that doesn’t marry with our data.”

Ms Rubin criticised the suggestion that PIP might not be given in the form of cash payments and instead paid through services, such as adjustments in the home, arguing claimants should be able to spend money on what they need.

Ms Rubin added: “It seems like the government’s starting point is how do we bring the bill down? But for us here at Scope, the question should be why are so many more people unwell? Why are more people claiming disability benefits? Of course, there has to be some boundaries and we recognise it is a big bill and it’s a growing bill. But let’s find out why.”

A Department for Work and Pensions spokesperson said: “Our next generation of welfare reforms will ensure we have a system that is fair and compassionate – targeting help at those who need it most and making sure we have a welfare state that is fit for the future.

“The PIP consultation will invite views from across society, including disabled people and representative organisations, so we can deliver the right support for disabled people and those with health conditions.”