'Growing confusion' over plans to replace PIP payments with vouchers
Charities are concerned that personal independence payments could yet be replaced by a voucher scheme, despite indications the proposals had been scrapped.
The government has been urged to clarify whether it is scrapping plans to make sweeping changes to personal independence payments (PIP) amid "growing confusion" over the issue with changes to some aspects of the benefits system expected to be announced this autumn.
On Tuesday, work and pensions secretary Liz Kendall said the government would look to tackle economic inactivity and long-term sickness through reform, with data showing inactivity up by 713,000 since the pandemic.
Disability charity Scope has called on the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to confirm whether it is continuing to look at "concerning" proposals that could see disability benefits and cash payments replaced with vouchers or one-off grants.
In April, the previous Conservative government published a green paper on PIP reform. The consultation around those proposals has been ongoing following Labour's election victory in July.
However, on 14 October, disability minister Stephen Timms said that the government did not intend to publish a response to the consultation – indicating that the proposed measures had been dropped.
Timms said in response to a parliamentary question: “We do not intend to publish a response to the previous government’s consultation. We will be considering our own plans for social security in due course and will fulfil our continued commitment to work with disabled people so that their views and voices are at the heart of all that we do.”
However, on Thursday, a spokesperson for the DWP said it is "now considering the responses to the consultation", according to Scope.
In a thread on X, the charity said it was urgently calling for clarification as it believes that "many of the proposals" in the consultation "are dangerous".
"The consultation alone has caused months of anxiety and uncertainty for disabled people and their families," it wrote.
Yesterday we shared news about the government’s plans for PIP.
But there has been growing confusion in the 24 hours since.
We’ve shared some important clarifications in the thread below. And we continue to call on the Department for Work and Pensions to share more information. https://t.co/7mdkEgH4Da— Scope (@scope) October 17, 2024
"We have consistently called on the new government to provide clarity on its plans for PIP, and wider benefits reform," it wrote.
"But its quotes and statements over the past two days have only created more confusion."
It addressed its final post to the Department for Work and Pensions' X account, concluding: "Is the consultation being scrapped? Are you still considering vouchers for PIP? After months of limbo, disabled people are entitled to a straight answer."
James Taylor from Scope told Yahoo News: “It’s concerning that the DWP have said they are still considering responses to the previous government’s consultation on PIP.
"Three days ago they said they were not going to respond to this consultation.
"Disabled people desperately need clarity and for the government to clear up any confusion. The government now need to come forward and confirm if the consultation is being scrapped, and if they are considering vouchers for PIP.”
Several disability rights charities and campaigners slammed the decision to introduce the vouchers when they were first touted.
The Disability Poverty Campaign Group branded the vouchers “dehumanising” and said it would “use all possible avenues to challenge the implication that disabled people eligible for PIP lack the capacity to manage cash-based income”.
The DWP told Yahoo News on Thursday: “We are committed to championing the rights of disabled people so their views and voices are at the heart of all we do.“We are now considering the responses to the consultation.”
Yahoo News understands the consultation related to previous government policy and no decisions have been made.