Disability Living Allowance and Personal Independence Payment



The government is replacing Disability Living Allowance (DLA) with Personal Independence Payment (PIP) for people of working age. DLA is a benefit for children and adults aged under the State Pension Age who, because of disability or illness, need help with personal care or with mobility. PIP helps with some of the extra costs caused by ill-health or disability. According to the government, “the rate depends on how your condition affects you, not the condition itself.”


If you currently get DLA, you will continue to get it until the Department for Work and Pensions writes to tell you when it will end and to invite you to apply for PIP. 
Otherwise, anyone over 16 must now apply for PIP instead of DLA and “objective assessments” now decide eligibility to PIP. 


The aim of PIP is supposedly to target support on those most in need, but the government also aims to reduce spending.
The previous coalition government predicted savings of £2.2 billion by May 2016, compared to projected spending under an unchanged system. Charities warned that around 600,000 people would eventually lose their financial support because of reassessment and stricter eligibility criteria and disability groups condemned the introduction of PIP as a money-saving exercise. DLA was one of the most effectively targeted benefits with an officially-estimated fraud rate of just 0.5%. 


As DLA is replaced by PIP, there are new rules and assessments to judge who can claim assistance. If fewer disabled people can claim PIP than are currently receiving DLA, charities say this will also have a knock-on effect for their carers.