The DWP has appointed 12 members to the steering group of the primary ever complete evaluation of Private Independence Cost (PIP)
The Timms Overview of PIP eligibility is predicted to submit its report back to DWP by Autumn this yr. (Picture: undefined)
Disabled folks may have their views positioned on the coronary heart of the inaugural complete examination of Private Independence Cost (PIP) following the number of 12 members to its steering committee.
The assembled group will contribute lived expertise of incapacity or power well being circumstances alongside direct involvement with Disabled Individuals’s Organisations (DPOs).
Their experience encompasses welfare coverage, accessibility and advocacy, with members possessing backgrounds in co-production, governance, and management. The committee will provide strategic steerage and help in establishing priorities and a piece programme for the Timms Overview, working with the Overview’s three co-chairs, Minister Sir Stephen Timms, Sharon Brennan and Dr Clenton Farquharson CBE.
The committee will look at PIP’s function in enabling disabled folks to realize improved well being and lead impartial lives, the PIP evaluation standards for day by day dwelling and mobility and the way the evaluation might facilitate entry to applicable assist all through the advantages system.
PIP purposes have surged lately. In 2019, there have been two million working-age folks receiving PIP, however that determine has risen to greater than 3.9 million by the top of October 2025.
The DWP stated the variety of PIP claimants is projected to surpass 4 million by the top of the last decade. The target of the Timms Overview is to ensure PIP stays equitable and appropriate for the long run – acknowledging the fact of peoples’ circumstances and their aspirations and goals, while contemplating societal modifications since its authentic conception and implementation, stories the Each day Document.
The DWP stated that since PIP’s launch in 2013, there have been evolving patterns in long-term well being circumstances and incapacity. Better numbers reside with disabilities, but the rise in these receiving incapacity advantages is twice the speed of accelerating prevalence amongst working-age adults in England and Wales.
The Timms Overview will ship its findings to the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions by Autumn 2026, with an interim progress report anticipated beforehand.
Minister for Social Safety and Incapacity Sir Stephen Timms stated: “Disabled folks deserve a system that really helps them to stay with independence and dignity, and that pretty displays the fact of their lives right now. That is why we’re placing disabled folks on the coronary heart of this Overview – guaranteeing their voices form the modifications that can assist them obtain higher well being, better independence, and entry to the proper assist once they want it.
“We’re delighted to announce the appointment of the steering group members, who alongside myself and the Overview’s co-chairs will report again to the Secretary of State within the autumn.”
Co-chair Sharon Brennan stated: “The group we now have chosen reveals our dedication to making sure this evaluation is co produced with folks from a range of backgrounds together with lived and dwelling expertise, protected traits, geographies and professions.
“However 15 folks cannot signify everybody, which is why our work will probably be a part of a wider engagement course of to make sure we hear from many extra voices all through the evaluation.”
Co-chair Dr Clenton Farquharson CBE stated: “Private Independence Cost performs an important function in enabling disabled folks to stay impartial lives. This Overview will pay attention intently to lived expertise, check whether or not the system is honest, and guarantee PIP displays the realities of incapacity within the trendy world.”
A coalition of charities has welcomed the inclusion of disabled folks on the steering group, however cautioned “it can’t change into about making cuts”.
The Incapacity Advantages Consortium (DBC) – a coalition of greater than 100 charities, together with the MS Society, Scope, Parkinson’s UK and Mencap – described the evaluation as a possibility for “actual change” to an evaluation system which is “not solely hectic, they fail to recognise the affect of fluctuating and progressive circumstances like MS – usually denying folks the assist they should stay independently”. Charles Gillies, DBC coverage co-chair and senior coverage officer on the MS Society, characterised it as “undeniably constructive that the majority members of the brand new steering group have lived expertise of incapacity or claiming Pip”.
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He continued: “This evaluation should now have interaction meaningfully with the steering group and disabled folks extra usually, and stay laser-focused on bettering the equity of PIP assessments – or we threat this very important alternative being wasted. And crucially, it can’t change into about making cuts.”
What comes subsequent
The steering group’s work has already begun. After an off-the-cuff introductory name and induction session in January 2026, the approaching weeks will characteristic:
- the primary formal steering group conferences.
- the beginning of detailed co-production and coverage work in February.
- preparations for a broader, totally accessible engagement programme past the steering group, launching within the spring.
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