Personal Independence Payment (abbreviated to PIP and usually pronounced as one word) is a welfare benefit in the United Kingdom that is intended to help working age adults with the extra costs of living with a health condition or a disability.
It is non-means-tested, non-contributory and tax-free; it is not linked to a person's ability to work and it is available equally to people in or out of work. It is not intended to be a substitute for a person's earnings, unlike Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) or ESA's predecessor, Incapacity Benefit.
Eligibility for PIP is based upon the practical effects of a condition on a person's life, rather than the condition itself. It is not currently available to children who still claim Disability Living Allowance and are invited to claim PIP from their 16th birthday; it can be claimed by adults under the State Pension age, and people already on the benefit will continue to receive it after they retire.
History
PIP was introduced by the Welfare Reform Act 2012 and the Social Security (Personal Independence Payment) Regulations 2013 (which have been repeatedly amended). It began to replace Disability Living Allowance (DLA) for new claims from 8 April 2013, by means of an initial pilot in selected areas of north-west and north-east England. A full roll-out across Great Britain was planned for October 2013. However, this roll-out was delayed – primarily because the main contractor, Atos, wanted to ensure that the process was as reliable as possible; also, the assessments took much longer than expected, and assessors were hard to recruit - and as a result ministers announced that the roll-out would happen more gradually than originally planned.
Although PIP was expected to cut costs by 20% over the longer term, costs were forecast to rise by £1billion to £15.4billion in 2015–16, partly due to a rise in mental health issues and learning disabilities.
New rules were introduced in 2017 and many charities say disabled people will be left without support. The Disability Benefits Consortium (DBC) (comprising charities including Parkinson's UK, the MS Society and Mind) claimed about 160,000 people receiving PIP would be affected by proposed changes. Phil Reynolds of the consortium said, "Across the DBC we have had our helpline and advice services inundated by calls about PIP since it was introduced. Instead of supporting disabled people, the benefits system seems increasingly rigged against them. The whole system needs urgent improvement, in order to accurately assess the support they need. Disabled people cannot afford to wait." Charities that represent mental health and learning disability groups claim the changes do not recognise that the costs connected with those conditions are as severe as for other impairments. the changes were reversed in January 2018 following the decision not to appeal a high court ruling.
Claiming PIP
Claims will usually but not always be started over the phone. Most people claiming PIP are required to undergo assessments to prove their eligibility for the benefit. Payments are varied according to the severity of disability as decided by the tests and relate to ability to carry out daily living activities and level mobility. Claimants are also required to undergo periodic re-assessments to ensure ongoing eligibility for the benefit; depending on the type of disability, a person may be given a short award of up to two years or longer PIP award which would last for up to five or ten years. The PIP Assessment Guide (Updated on 1 May 2016) states: 'It would not be practical for the assessment to take account of the impact of a health condition or impairment on all everyday activities, nor to seek to include all possible areas where extra costs may be generated.'
PIP is not available to children under 16 and PIP claimants must apply (if at all) before State Pension age. New PIP claims cannot be made after that age. DLA continues for children, and for existing recipients aged 64 or over on 8 April 2013; other people currently receiving DLA will be asked to claim PIP instead at some point.
Assessment process
Responsibility for the tests has been outsourced by DWP to two private companies, Independent Assessment Services (formerly known as Atos Healthcare) in the north of England, London and southern England, and Capita Business Services Ltd in central England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In 2018 37% of the 220,000 face-to-face assessments conducted by Capita were rated by DWP auditors as of an unacceptable standard, to need changes, or demonstrating that the assessor had failed to carry out the role properly. There was also concern at the delay in performing assessments.