Disabled people risk losing their ‘lifeline’, warns Scope

In a new report, Scope reveals that the new Personal Independence Payment (PIP), which the government is introducing to replace Disability Living Allowance (DLA) won’t be directed to those who need the greatest support because the assessment to test for eligibility is flawed.

DLA was introduced in 1992 to help meet the extra cost of living disabled people incur as a result of their impairment or condition. Plans to replace DLA with the new Personal Independence Payment (PIP) were announced by the Government in December last year.

Personal Independence Payment

PIP is designed to be a “more active and enabling benefit that supports disabled people to overcome the barriers they face to leading full and independent lives”. It has been incorporated into the Welfare Reform Bill and is currently being debated in the House of Lords.

The Department of Work and Pensions has pushed for reform because it does not believe that the current support through DLA targets those who need the greatest support. In recent months it has revealed a draft of the new medical assessment it plans to use to reassess all new and existing claimants who are of a working age.

Assessments

Scope is concerned that the Government is introducing a tick box style medical assessment that won’t help it achieve the very aims it has set out, and could see a repeat of the problems it has faced over its fitness to work test – the Work Capability Assessment, which has seen thousands of people appealing decisions by assessors, with 40% found in favour of the claimant. 

The charity believes that unless the assessment considers the social, practical and environmental barriers that disabled people face, thousands of people could be left with the  wrong levels of support and in some cases no support at all. It is urging the Government to reconsider its assessment and to look at all the areas of a disabled person’s daily life where they experience barriers and extra costs, including as a result of:

• Unsuitable or poorly adapted housing
• Inaccessible public transport and having to rely on private hire to run everyday errands
• Lack of informal support network to help with household tasks and care needs
• Being employed or undertaking voluntary work

Extra costs of disability

Research commissioned by Scope shows all these factors create significant extra costs for disabled people that in most cases are not related to the direct effect of an individual’s condition and impairment.

The charity, together with support from the disability, welfare rights sector and a disabled people’s organisation, has designed a blueprint for an alternative assessment that looks at all aspects of an individual’s life and has handed it to Department of Work and Pensions officials.

Richard Hawkes, Chief Executive of disability charity Scope, said:

“We recognise that Disability Living Allowance needs reforming and we fully support the Government’s ambitions to create a more active and enabling benefit.

“However, we are concerned that the new assessment the government is planning to use is flawed because it doesn’t take into consideration all the barriers that disabled people face in daily life.

“Without understanding the extent of barriers people face, the government has no hope to overcome them and genuinely enable people to take part in daily life.

“We believe that the alternative assessment we have designed will give disabled people the opportunity to address the barriers they face and therefore drive down costs in the long term, rather than placing a sticking plaster over them.”