Disability Living Allowance and Personal Independence Payment

The government is replacing Disability Living Allowance (DLA) with a new benefit called Personal Independence Payment (PIP) for people of working age.

This involves the introduction of “objective assessments” to decide eligibility. Its stated intention is to target support on those most in need through this new benefit. However, the government is hoping for a 20% reduction in expenditure by 2017 by bringing in this process.

Many disability groups have condemned the introduction of PIPs as a money-saving exercise because DLA is one of the most effectively targeted benefits with an officially-estimated fraud rate of just 0.5%.

For example, Carers UK states that more than a million people were receiving carer’s allowance before the introduction of PIPs, and for about 270,000 of them, this entitlement depends on eligibility for the DLA of someone of working age for whom they care.

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

The DWP said that around 76,000 disabled people with carers would be reassessed for PIP and that around 25,000 of these people will no longer be entitled to DLA as a result. Their carer will also lose their allowance.

The first stage of PIP started in April 2013 with people claiming for the first time and living in the north-east and north-west of England (the area covered by Bootle Disability Benefits Centre).