PIP payment to be overhauled as Sunak shakes up the benefits system

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Payments for disability support will be overhauled to change who is entitled and how the support is offered, Rishi Sunak has promised.

The more than 3 million people currently eligible for Personal Independence Payments (PIP) could see their eligibility changed under proposals set out by the Prime Minister.

It comes as more than 400,000 people on separate out of work benefits due to a health condition face having to find work under wider reforms of the system.

Mr Sunak announced a consultation on the PIP system which could see some disabled people having their benefits reduced or removed altogether if it is judged they do not face higher costs as a result of their condition.

The pledge came as part of a package of reforms to make Britain's benefits system "sustainable and fit for the future" after a major increase in the number of people signed off work, often on the grounds of poor mental health.

PIP is given to disabled people regardless of their financial situation, including many who are in work, to help with extra living costs if someone has a long-term physical or mental health condition or disability, and has difficulty doing certain everyday tasks.

Details of the consultation will be published in the next few days, Mr Sunak said in a speech in London, which will inform a policy paper.

This will form the basis of proposed legislation that would be pledged in the Conservative Party manifesto and introduced in the next Parliament.

Mr Sunak suggested changes to the rules could include removing ongoing payments for adaptations to people's homes, replacing them with one-off payments or NHS interventions.

Some claimants will also have their cash payments replaced with medical treatment designed to improve their conditions, the Prime Minister suggested.

He also said that he wanted to move away from a "one size fits all" approach, indicating a new system could have more personalised support but with a higher threshold for eligibility and a "more objective and rigorous approach".

And he suggested greater medical evidence could be required to substantiate a PIP claim, and that some people with mental health conditions may be offered talking therapies or respite care rather than cash transfers.

The Government said the number of new PIP awards a month in England and Wales, where the main condition is anxiety and depression, has more than doubled from 2,200 in 2019 to 5,300 last year.

PIP spending alone is forecast to rise by more than 50 per cent over the next four years if no changes are made.

Mr Sunak confirmed a previously announced commitment around the Work Capability Assessment (WCA) - which determines whether someone is entitled to benefits without having to seek employment - to see people with less severe conditions expected to look for work.

The Government said it remains committed to scrapping the WCA entirely and replacing it with a "new personalised, tailored approach".

It revealed the changes to WCA would see 424,000 people, who currently do not need to prepare for work, made to start or face losing benefits by 2029.

Mr Sunak described the Government's approach as saying "people with less severe mental health conditions should be expected to engage with the world of work".

He said: "We now spend £69bn on benefits for people of working age with a disability or health condition. That's more than our entire schools budget, more than our transport budget, more than our policing budget.

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"And spending on personal independence payments alone is forecast to increase by more than 50 per cent over the next four years. That's not right, it's not sustainable, and it's not fair on the taxpayers who fund it."

But anticipating critics who are likely to accuse him of cutting support for those who need it, Mr Sunak insisted: "This is not about making the welfare system less generous to people who face very real extra costs for mental health conditions."

Other changes announced in the speech include removing benefits entirely from people who have failed to look for a job for a year, and reduce the number of people who are classed as unfit to work under the work capability assessment.

Disability charity Scope described the extent of the proposed changes as unexpected while the Resolution Foundation warned that any major reform will affect those with physical disabilities too.

Director of strategy, James Taylor, accused the Government of proposing to "slash disabled people's income" in a cost-of-living crisis, branding the suggestion "horrific".

Dr Sarah Hughes, chief executive of mental health charity Mind, said it was "deeply disappointed that the Prime Minister's speech today continues a trend in recent rhetoric which conjures up the image of a 'mental health culture' that has 'gone too far'".

"To imply that it is easy both to be signed-off work and then to access benefits is deeply damaging," she said.

"It is insulting to the 1.9 million people on a waiting list to get mental health support, and to the GPs whose expert judgment is being called into question."

Louise Murphy, senior economist at the Resolution Foundation, said: "Rising economic inactivity, and especially rising inactivity due to long-term sickness, is one of the biggest economic challenges Britain faces in the 2020s.

"Not only is it reducing employment and growth, and increasing public spending, it is harming the living standards of those who are too ill to work.

"But the Prime Minister today has set out a problem statement rather than a plan, particularly when it comes to proposals to overhaul our main disability benefit.

"This may reflect the very challenging nature of disability benefit reforms. But whoever wins the next election will need to go beyond rhetoric and consultations if they're to stem the rising benefit bills and help more people into work."