Disabled people with lifelong conditions facing ‘unnecessary’ Pip reassessments | Welfare

New analysis shows that, contrary to official guidance, disabled people with lifelong health problems are consistently subjected to “frivolous” benefit assessments.

Hundreds of thousands of disabled people are undergoing “unnecessary” personal independence payment (Pip) reviews, “wasting” public money and causing “significant harm” to claimants’ mental and physical health, an investigation by anti-poverty charity Z2K has found.

Figures show 73% of people with learning disabilities, 86% of those with amputations and 62% of applicants with cerebral palsy were given fixed-term awards meaning they would have to undergo re-assessment every three years. This was also true for 89% of claimants with multiple sclerosis and 61% of claimants with Parkinson’s disease; These conditions are those in which there is little or no possibility of significant improvement.

Samuel Thomas, senior policy advisor at Z2K, said: “Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) guidance says disabled people with lifelong and progressive health problems should not be re-assessed more than once every ten years – but the data shows these rules are clearly not being followed.

“Shockingly high rates of people with disabilities who qualify based on lifetime disability, such as cerebral palsy, permanent hearing loss, and amputated limbs, are forced to undergo meaningless reevaluations even if their disabilities remain unchanged.”

Z2K found that almost 75% of planned award reviews last year (equivalent to more than 500,000 reassessments) did not result in any change to a person’s payments. This included many cases involving claimants who were already receiving the highest levels of support and were being reassessed despite their health being unlikely to improve.

Of the reviews that led to changes in payments, 10% were increased, while 16% were decreased or stopped.

Following the introduction of Pip by the coalition government in 2013 and the abolition of lifetime awards, ongoing “light touch” awards (meaning a case is only reviewed every 10 years and often without a face-to-face meeting) were said to be reserved for people whose circumstances were unlikely to change. But the Z2K study found that continuing claims are very rare, accounting for only 6.9% of new claims in 2025.

The default period for fixed compensation granted to the vast majority of disabled people was changed from two to three years for new Pip applicants last week. It is hoped that this move will reduce costs and long backlogs. However, Z2K warned that this change would not prevent fixed-term awards being made incorrectly to people with a life disability, it would just delay their reassessment by up to a year.

Thomas said: “This move welcomes the wastefulness of the system, but does not address the fundamental problems with the system. These changes will not affect rules or guidelines that wrongly lock disabled people into fixed-term awards, nor will they reduce the number of people subject to full reassessments. All they will do is make reassessments slightly less frequent.”

A source who was previously a consultant to the DWP and is now a consultant expert on Pip told the Guardian he did not expect the number of reassessments for lifetime conditions to change.

At a time when welfare spending is increasingly under the spotlight, the findings raise the question of how much public money is wasted on unnecessary checks carried out by private companies rather than supporting disabled people. The DWP currently spends more than £350 million a year on Pip assessment contracts.

The Z2K study found that the design of Pip reward reviews, which take an average of 38 weeks to complete, was highly inefficient, often re-evaluating people “from scratch” rather than focusing on how their needs may have changed since the last review. The charity said this led to inconsistencies, errors and expensive applications.

The financial impact on plaintiffs is also quite significant. Z2K says disabled people have had their supports mistakenly removed or reduced following regular review, pushing many into significant financial difficulties, including the risk of homelessness.

Steve, formerly an NHS technician, was forced to leave work after suffering a brain injury in a car crash in 2019. He has relied on disability benefits to get by ever since. A backlog meant the 46-year-old, from south London, only started receiving Pip in 2021, but was only reassessed two years later. Following the review, his award was reduced by £120 a month, although his disability remained the same.

Steve struggled to pay his rent with the Pip deduction and universal credit, his only other income. He appealed, but the system was difficult to navigate. “The brain damage makes paperwork much more difficult, especially because benefit forms are written in a difficult to understand way. It leaves me tired and anxious.”

In January 2026, the decision was overturned and Steve’s payments were increased to the original rate and the backdate applied. In total, it took him two and a half years to get back to where he started. He’s already worried about when he’ll be reevaluated next time.

“Even though I won, it felt hollow because I know that in 18 to 20 months, I will have to go through these challenges again,” he said. “I have fewer fights left each time. They take bigger hits from you.”

A DWP spokesman said: “We are taking action to fix the broken benefits system we inherited, including extending award review periods which will remove unnecessary pressure on disabled people and help save around £2bn.

“The assessment assesses how well someone can manage their Pip activities rather than diagnosis alone, so results depend on individual circumstances.

“As part of our work to reform the system, we have also launched the Timms Review, which has been prepared in partnership with disabled people and their representative organisations, to ensure Pip is fit and fair for the future, including re-evaluations.”