People with learning disabilities should be exempt from benefit reassessments.
That’s the view of Dan Scorer, head of policy for the charity Mencap.
Mencap policy chief Dan Scorer, who wants people of working age with disabilities to be exempt from frequent benefit reassessments
Work and pensions secretary Amber Rudd has announced 270,000 disabled pensioners who get the Personal Independence Payment (PIP) will no longer have regular reviews.
‘Light touch’ benefit reviews
Instead, they will have “light touch” reviews every ten years.
Scorer is calling for a similar move for people with disabilities of working age.
Rudd is also reviewing the government’s goal to see one million more disabled people in work by 2027. The idea is to make the target more ambitious.
Combined assessments
She also plans to combine separate assessments from 2021. This would cover PIP, Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) and Universal Credit.
Scorer said frequent reassessment can be “extremely stressful and is often unnecessary”.
He added that people with learning disabilities are more likely to live in poverty. Fitness-for-work and PIP assessments have flaws that exacerbate such financial difficulties, he said.
‘Inadequate’ test
Scorer warned that merging the two assessments could still produce one “inadequate” test. He said he wants the process improved to reduce “anxiety and hardship” for the learning disabled.
The UK government is rolling out the PIP to replace Disability Living Allowance (DLA). People are reassessed regularly once they move over to PIP.
In contrast, on DLA people had lifetime awards. But this has ended. There is now only a limited group of severely disabled people who are exempt from reassessment, says Mencap.
Rudd said her department has stopped reassessing those with the most severe conditions who receive ESA or Universal Credit.
Similarly, those who get the highest level of the PIP, where their needs are unlikely to decrease, receive an ongoing award. There is only a light-touch review a decade later.
Related:
- ‘Disgrace of slashed benefits’
- Call for end to worry of benefit change
- Charity condemns harm of benefit change
- Tell your MP your view on benefit cut
Published: 11 March 2019
