More than 150,000 vulnerable claimants face losing benefits in DWP reassessment drive
Hundreds of thousands of disability benefit claimants will soon face challenging reassessments – despite having been claiming for more than a decade – as the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) restarts a transition programme.
As part of closing Adult Disability Living Allowance (DLA) claims, they will be transferred to Personal Independence Payment (Pip), the benefit currently at the center of government scrutiny.
Adults have not been able to claim DLA since 2013, when it was replaced by Pip, although it is still available to child beneficiaries.
The DWP began inviting adult DLA claimants on the benefit to switch to the new benefit later that year, but this lengthy process was paused in 2020 in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The DWP said around 153,000 adult DLA claimants remain and all of them will be invited to move to Pip following a smaller-scale trial of the changes.
If they do not accept this invitation and make a request, they will lose their current aid rights.
It is understood that most DLA claimants receive a lifetime award, meaning their circumstances will not change and therefore they will not be subject to further assessment.
Most post-2013 adult DLA claimants had to move to Pip when their awards came up for review, but this does not apply to claimants.
However, they will now be judged according to Pip rules; This means a new form will need to be filled out, followed by possibly a health assessment to determine eligibility.
In his recent interim report to Pip, disability minister Sir Stephen Timms found the process was often described as “dehumanising”, “soul-destroying” and “degrading”.
The authors add that applicants are often required to share “private details” with assessors so that they are then “misrepresented or rejected.”
Although the final report and recommendations are not expected until the autumn, the review team added that “bold changes” would be made to address the benefit that was at the heart of Labour’s decline in prosperity last year.
However, these will not be implemented before the transfer plan from DLA to Pip goes ahead. The DWP said it would start with 3,000 randomly selected cases from September before a wider rollout.
James Taylor, strategy director at disability equality charity Scope, said: “The DWP needs to make sure it does not penalize disabled people whose extra costs are likely to rise.”
He added that existing DLA claimants should “make sure they respond when DWP gets in touch.”
“Disabled people know that the current PIP system does not work and that many have to endure inhumane and confrontational assessments.”
A DWP spokesperson said: “The transfer of adult DLA claimants to PIP has been paused since 2020. Reassessment only occurs when the recipient reaches the age of 16, reports a change of circumstances or voluntarily claims PIP.
“We are examining a random sample of 3,000 cases and the findings will help determine the additional support needed while active transfer continues.”
