PIP expert warns claimants who will be 'most affected' by changes

The eligibility rules for PIP are changing next year
A benefits expert has warned that people with three health conditions could be particularly affected by changes to PIP rules (Personal Independence Payment). A new qualifying rule is coming in from next year for the benefit, which helps cover the extra costs of people who live with a long-term health condition or disability.
The benefit includes a daily living part and a mobility part, with a lower and higher payment depending on your level of need. The new stipulation will mean you have to get at least one score of 4 on one of the daily living activities to get the daily living element.
‌
This means those losing out on £73.90 a week or £110.40 a week at the current rates. Rebecca Lamb, external relations manager at Money Wellness, warned that some people with certain conditions could be particular affected by the more stringent criteria.
‌
She said: "People with mental health conditions, long Covid, ME, and other fluctuating or invisible illnesses are likely to be the most affected if support is reduced. These conditions can be hard to assess using standard criteria, especially when symptoms vary from day to day or don't have obvious physical signs. That puts people at greater risk of being overlooked in the system."
Ms Lamb warned that the impact of losing out on PIP is not just the financial loss. She said that if you miss out on the right support, your daily life can be much harder and you may struggle to maintain your independence and stay well mentally and physically.
The changes to PIP are set to come in from November 2026. DWP estimates suggest that by 2029/2030, some 370,000 current recipients will lose out on entitlement while 430,000 future claimants will no longer qualify.
Ms Lamb warned that another challenge with PIP is that the payment rates are not keeping up with the rising costs some claimants face. Benefit rates increased 1.7% in April. The expert said: "Energy bills and other essential costs continue to rise sharply, putting extra pressure on people with long-term health conditions who often need more support just to cover basics like heating or medical equipment.
"This means there's still a gap between what people really need and the support available to them. We hear from many who are having to cut back on essentials or take on debt just to get by." Asked how the DWP benefits system could be improved, Ms Lamb said: "The system needs to be simpler and more understanding. Right now, the process can be incredibly stressful, especially for people who are already unwell.
"There's too much paperwork, sometimes pages and pages, long waits, and people often have to explain their condition over and over again. That takes a real toll, both emotionally and physically." She said officials should also use technology to better join up the system.
She gave an example of how this could work, saying: "If professional organisations like the NHS could safely share key information with the DWP (with the right consent), it would take a lot of pressure off people who are just trying to get the support they're entitled to. No one should be missing out on help or going through months of stress just because the systems don't talk to each other.
"The process should feel supportive and straightforward, not like another hurdle to overcome."

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

Daily Mirror

33 minutes ago

• Daily Mirror

Wes Streeting says there 'isn't a budget' in NHS for assisted dying law

The Health Secretary - one of the top opponents of the legislation - said assisted dying would take 'time and money' away from other parts of the health service Wes Streeting has claimed there "isn't a budget" in the NHS for assisted dying services after a historic Commons vote on the issue. The Health Secretary - one of the most senior opponents of the legislation - said it would take "time and money" away from other parts of the health service. On Friday the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill was passed by MPs with a majority of 23 in a move championed by campaigners. ‌ Keir Starmer and Chancellor Rachel Reeves voted for the legislation, which would allow terminally ill adults with six months left to live the option to end their life early. The application would be approved by two doctors and an expert panel featuring a social worker, senior legal figure and psychiatrist. ‌ But Mr Streeting was among several Cabinet ministers, including Deputy PM Angela Rayner and Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood, to vote against the bill. In a post on his Facebook page over the weekend, said he had "no doubt that this is a major and profound social change for our NHS and our country". READ MORE: Assisted dying law PASSES Commons in historic moment - see how your MP voted He said the Department of Health and Social Care "will continue to work constructively with Parliament to assist on technical aspects of the Bill" as it goes through the House of Lords. But he warned: "Even with the savings that might come from assisted dying if people take up the service - and it feels uncomfortable talking about savings in this context to be honest - setting up this service will also take time and money that is in short supply. "There isn't a budget for this. Politics is about prioritising. It is a daily series of choices and trade-offs. I fear we've made the wrong one." Assisted dying campaigner Dame Esther Rantzen also urged peers not to block the landmark legislation. Dame Esther told BBC Radio 4's Today programme on Saturday: "I don't need to teach the House of Lords how to do their job. ‌ "They know it very well, and they know that laws are produced by the elected chamber. Their job is to scrutinise, to ask questions, but not to oppose. "So yes, people who are adamantly opposed to this Bill, and they have a perfect right to oppose it, will try and stop it going through the Lords, but the Lords themselves, their duty is to make sure that law is actually created by the elected chamber, which is the House of Commons who have voted this through." Dame Esther, who has terminal cancer, acknowledged the legislation would probably not become law in time for her to use it and she would have to "buzz off to Zurich" to use the Dignitas clinic.

Daily Mail​

an hour ago

• Daily Mail​

Wes Streeting warns there is no money in the NHS for assisted dying and helping people to end their lives will mean cuts to treatment for the living

The Health Secretary has warned that legalising assisted dying could take NHS money away from medical treatment for the living. Wes Streeting, who opposed the suicide law change passed by MPs last week, said getting the system up and running would take 'time and money' away from other parts of the health service. He said that said better end-of-life care was needed to prevent terminally ill people feeling they had no alternative but to end their own life. MPs on Friday voted by a majority of just 23 to allow medical professionals to help people die, under a system expected to start operating by the end of the decade. But having been passed by the Commons the legislation faces a tricky passage through the Lords, which calls for them to either make major changes or block it altogether. Mr Streeting, writing on his Facebook page, said he could not ignore the concerns 'about the risks that come with this Bill' raised by the Royal College of Psychiatrists, the Royal College of Physicians, the Association for Palliative Medicine and charities representing under-privileged groups. He cited a warning from ex-PM Gordon Brown that 'there is no effective freedom to choose' if there is no high quality palliative care available, or if people 'feel under pressure to relieve their relatives of the burden of caring for them'. 'He is right. The truth is that creating those conditions will take time and money,' Mr Streeting wrote. 'Even with the savings that might come from assisted dying if people take up the service – and it feels uncomfortable talking about savings in this context to be honest – setting up this service will also take time and money that is in short supply. 'There isn't a budget for this. Politics is about prioritising. It is a daily series of choices and trade-offs. I fear we've made the wrong one.' The Government is neutral on the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill which cleared the Commons with a majority of 23 votes on Friday. Mr Streeting said his Department of Health and Social Care 'will continue to work constructively with Parliament to assist on technical aspects of the Bill' as it goes through the House of Lords. Last week assisted dying campaigner Dame Esther Rantzen urged peers not to block the landmark legislation. Dame Esther told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'I don't need to teach the House of Lords how to do their job. 'They know it very well, and they know that laws are produced by the elected chamber. 'Their job is to scrutinise, to ask questions, but not to oppose. 'So yes, people who are adamantly opposed to this Bill, and they have a perfect right to oppose it, will try and stop it going through the Lords, but the Lords themselves, their duty is to make sure that law is actually created by the elected chamber, which is the House of Commons who have voted this through.' Dame Esther, who turns 85 on Sunday and has terminal cancer, acknowledged the legislation would probably not become law in time for her to use it and she would have to 'buzz off to Zurich' to use the Dignitas clinic. Paralympian and crossbench peer Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson told BBC Breakfast: 'We're getting ready for it to come to the Lords and from my personal point of view, about amending it to make it stronger. 'We've been told it's the strongest Bill in the world, but to be honest, it's not a very high bar for other legislation. 'So I do think there are a lot more safeguards that could be put in.' Conservative peer and disability rights campaigner Lord Shinkwin said the narrow Commons majority underlined the need for peers to take a close look at the legislation. He told Today 'I think the House of Lords has a duty to expose and to subject this Bill to forensic scrutiny' but 'I don't think it's a question of blocking it so much as performing our duty as a revising chamber'. Lord Shinkwin added: 'The margin yesterday was so close that many MPs would appreciate the opportunity to look at this again in respect of safeguards as they relate to those who feel vulnerable, whether that's disabled people or older people.' Labour MP Kim Leadbeater, who steered the Bill through the Commons, said she hoped peers would not seek to derail the legislation, which could run out of parliamentary time if it is held up in the Lords. She said: 'I would be upset to think that anybody was playing games with such an important and such an emotional issue.'

BBC News

4 hours ago

• BBC News

Protesters gather to demand hospice reopens and question funding

Campaigners have returned to a hospice inpatient unit in Liverpool a year after it was shut to stage another protest to demand the facility reopen as soon as possible. The 26-bed unit at Marie Curie in Woolton, Liverpool, closed in July 2024 because of a shortage of specialised nursing decision sparked immediate concern and a campaign group, Save our Hospice, formed to demand a u-turn. A Marie Curie spokesman said it was in talks with the NHS Cheshire & Merseyside Integrated Care Board (ICB), which commissions end-of-life care in Liverpool, to agree a "sustainable long-term plan" for the unit's future. A large group of campaigners gathered outside the unit on Saturday afternoon and held placards criticising Marie Curie for not "taking up our offer" to fundraise for the unit. Some wore yellow t-shirts with the slogans "Save our Hospice" and "Save our Ward". Independent Liverpool councillor Lucy Williams, who attended a protest at the unit on Saturday, told the BBC: "It's been a year since they closed their doors to the inpatient unit and it's been a year that they've continued to receive funding from the ICB."So we're here today to ask where has that money gone and why haven't they delivered that service that they're getting commissioned to provide."Williams worked at the hospice as a palliative care nurse for two years, and said: "People's relatives and loved ones have died here and a lot of them have committed their time to fundraising for this hospice."We found out over this year that money doesn't come to this hospice, it goes into a national pot - so throughout the closure this fundraising has continued and people haven't been aware that the inpatient unit in Liverpool has been closed." 'Get the ward open' Williams said an "easy" resolution was to immediately re-open the ward. She said: "They're receiving the funding to have the ward open, surely they can have one or two beds? That's better than none at all. "So get the ward open and if Marie Curie aren't competent to provide the service then the ICB need to commission someone who is."The Marie Curie spokesperson said the charity hoped to reach an agreement with the NHS integrated care board "as soon as possible".While admissions to the inpatient unit "had been paused", the hospice had remained open and was providing palliative and end of life care to "thousands of people in Liverpool in different ways", they added. The spokesperson said the ICB was aware its funding was being used to provide these services. Listen to the best of BBC Radio Merseyside on Sounds and follow BBC Merseyside on Facebook, X, and Instagram. You can also send story ideas via Whatsapp to 0808 100 2230.