Labour must end the target-driven culture of disability benefit assessments, many claimants said, describing them as “cruel” and trying to “catch them out”.
Disabled claimants anxiously await changes to personal independence payments (PIP) – worth up to £800 a month – as the Government prepares an overhaul in a bid to bring down the growing welfare bill.
While campaigners are keen for reform of PIP assessments – which some former assessors have described as rushed – there are fears that ministers could try to cut spending on the benefit altogether.
As the Government’s review of PIP is set to conclude this autumn, charities have urged Andy Burnham to focus on making the system less hostile, rather than attempting to squeeze eligibility.
‘Combative and exhausting’
Almost two in five (40 per cent) people with multiple sclerosis (MS) felt they were treated as if they were lying during PIP assessments, according to an MS Society survey shared with The i Paper.
Over half (52 per cent) said their fluctuating symptoms weren’t understood or taken seriously by an assessor. 50 per cent said invisible symptoms weren’t properly assessed either.
Sian Pugh, who has relapsing MS, said the process of trying to get PIP from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) was “combative and exhausting”.
The 60-year-old, from Orpington, suffers from debilitating pain in her legs and feet during bad days, made worse by osteoarthritis in her knees.
The former teaching assistant, who had to stop working a few years ago due to her health, has also struggled with depression and anxiety.
Pugh has claimed PIP for the past 10 years. However, she had her daily living PIP benefit briefly taken away in 2019 after failing to win enough points needed for the award during an assessment.
The rejection letter cited Pugh being able to pick up “two medium-sized bags, one was full of folders” during the interview as a reason to deny her sufficient points.
Pugh said she had one small bag with one small folder. “It was so petty,” she said. “It was used as a way of saying how able I was. There wasn’t an attempt to understand how my condition fluctuates.”
Protesters fought against planned PIP cuts in 2025 – forcing Labour to revise its approach (Photo: Lab Ky Mo/Getty)The rejection letter also said Pugh had a “normal manner”. She was “not anxious” and had “no active mental health input”, it stated.
Pugh said she provided evidence that she was on the highest dose of an antidepressant at the time.
The rejection letter “suggested that I didn’t seem depressed – that I looked fine so I must feel fine”, she said. “It feels like they’re trying to catch you out.
“It’s completely dehumanising and demoralising, because it creates this feeling that you are a scrounger trying to cheat the system. It’s cruel.”
‘I’m still nervous about what Labour might do’
After appealing the decision at a tribunal, Pugh won the higher rate of daily living PIP in 2020.
She currently receives the higher rate of daily living PIP and the lower rate of mobility PIP – around £580 a month – after another re-assessment last year.
But she worries that PIP could become more difficult to get in future.
“What Labour tried to do last year to make it much harder to get [PIP] was horrendous,” said Pugh. “I felt so disillusioned I left the Labour Party.”
Disability minister Sir Stephen Timms is leading the PIP review, with reforms to be overseen by Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden (Photos: PA)Sir Keir Starmer was forced to ditch plans to squeeze PIP eligibility last year after a rebellion by Labour backbenchers.
The PIP bill is forecast to rise from £32.1bn this year to £44.7bn by 2030-31, and Burnham has said that the UK must “get really serious” about the cost of welfare. Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden has also said the system was struggling with a rise in claims from people with anxiety, depression and neurodiversity.
Some claimants could see their cash benefits replaced with more access to therapies, equipment or employment support, The i Paper reported in July.
However, disabilities minister Sir Stephen Timms, who is leading the Government PIP review, told The i Paper that his study has so far not “looked at changing eligibility on the basis of a diagnosis”.
“Meeting Stephen Timms and some of his team reassured me they do know that assessments to change,” Pugh said, referring to a recent meeting held at the MS Society’s office.
“But I am still nervous about what they [Labour] might do, whether it’s restricting spending or introducing things like vouchers, which would make things more difficult.”
‘Frightens me what right-wing parties could do’
The Conservatives have said they would urgently reassess all “mild” PIP claims, citing anxiety, depression and ADHD.
Reform UK said all those claiming PIP for “mental health or trivial conditions” would be reassessed as part of its plan to cut welfare by £50bn a year.
“It really frightens me what the right-wing parties could do in future,” Pugh said.
“It’s not realistic or fair to target mental health conditions on conditions like autism. The system should be there for everyone who needs support.
“The kind of cuts Reform are talking… how is that possible? Do they want disabled people begging on the streets?”
A recent BMG Research poll for The i Paper found that 56 per cent of people support replacing PIP’s cash benefit with services.
Charities stress that PIP has never been an out-of-work benefit, but aimed at paying for the extra costs of having a disability. Many PIP claimants are in work.
Charlotte Gill, head of campaigns at the MS Society, said the Timms review “must deliver a better system built on fairness, dignity and respect.”
A DWP spokesperson said the review’s interim report had made clear “that PIP is no longer fit for purpose”.
They said the Government was already improving the system “by extending award review periods, increasing face-to-face assessments, and helping sick or disabled people into jobs”.
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