Transcript PIP - national association of welfare rights advisers

PIP
Personal Independence Payment
&
The abolition of DLA
PIP
O Original announcement – George Osborne O
O
O
O
O
June 2010 ‘emergency’ budget:
‘reform’ DLA
20% cut in budget
Simplify application
Introduce medical assessment for all claimants
End entitlement to DLA mobility component in
Residential Care (since scrapped)
PIP
O Welfare Reform Bill:
O Replace DLA with ‘Personal Independence
Payment’ from March 2013
O Two Components:
O Mobility Component
O Daily Living Component
O Two rates of each Component – ‘standard’ and
‘enhanced’
O Standard where ‘limited’ by medical condition
O Enhanced where ‘severely limited’
O Qualifying period of 6 months
O Face-to-face assessment for many claimants
PIP
O Draft assessment criteria
O Briefing notes promise:
It will remain a:
O non-means tested
O non-contributory
O non-taxable
O cash benefit
O payable to people in and out of work.
O But will be delivered in a “fairer, more consistent
and sustainable manner.”
PIP
O (all) assessments will include advice provided by
a trained independent assessor who will:
O collect evidence from a wide range of sources.
O In many cases this will involve a face-to-face
consultation
O but in some cases paper-based assessment may be
more suitable
“The key is a review process that is applied sensitively
and appropriately, which disabled people and their
representatives have helped us to design to get it
right…”
DWP retain decision making responsibilities
PIP
O Will set up ‘multiple channels’ through which
disabled people will be able to access PIP
information, make claims and report changes in
their circumstances
O Will establish online claim facilities in the future
in addition to a paper claim form.
O “The DLA claim form is too long and complicated.
We will actively work with disabled people, their
organisations and carers to design an improved
form that is understandable and as
straightforward as possible”
PIP
O ‘number of areas of specific activity that we will
be taking forward to support the introduction and
delivery of Personal Independence Payment,
including:
O Design and development of a new IT system
O Production of new claimant information materials
O Development of contract specification ‘to support
the procurement exercise to select the service
provider that will deliver the objective assessment’
PIP
O Required period condition:
O Must have had difficulties for six months and be
likely to have them for six
O required period condition to be reapplied where
someone’s condition deteriorates
O “conditions that can be expected to have periods of
remission… will not have to fulfil the qualifying
period again if they make a further claim within a
year of the date they were last entitled”
O Qualifying period change predicted to be
particularly problematic for people going through
treatment for cancer
PIP
O Award duration
O 70% of DLA awards indefinite
O PIP will be ‘a dynamic benefit which can respond to
changes in individual needs and circumstances’
O PIP awards – “for a fixed term, except in exceptional
circumstances”
O
length of award will be “based on the individual’s needs
and the likelihood of their health condition or impairment
changing” (recommendation at assessment)
O In exceptional circumstances will make ongoing awards.
O ‘tailored approach’ to reviews
O may involve face-to-face assessment with ‘trained
independent assessor’,
O in some cases could be a paper-based assessment, ‘if that
would be more appropriate’
PIP
Daily Living component
O Planning and buying food and drink;
O Preparing and cooking food;
O Taking nutrition;
O Managing medication and monitoring health conditions;
O Managing prescribed therapies other than medication;
O Washing, bathing and grooming;
O Managing toilet needs or incontinence;
O Dressing and undressing; and
O Communicating with others.
Mobility Component
O Planning and following a journey; and
O Moving around.
PIP
Technical note accompanying PIP criteria suggests
very limited awareness of DLA criteria:
O we have sought to incorporate a wider variety of
everyday activities than those covered by the
current Disability Living Allowance criteria… e.g.
O “the inclusion of communication will enable the
assessment to take better account of the impact of
impairments which impact on sight, hearing,
speech and comprehension…”
PIP
Scoring:
O First descriptor 0 points;
O Points likely to broadly increase as you move down
the list
O In some cases, descriptors may receive the same
points;
O scores may not follow a uniform pattern for each
activity but ‘will reflect the individual characteristics
and priority of each activity’
PIP
Priority:
Low scoring:
O Managing medication and monitoring health conditions
O Managing prescribed therapies other than medication
Medium scoring:
O Planning and buying food and drink
O Preparing and cooking food
O Taking nutrition
O Washing, bathing and grooming
O Managing toilet needs and incontinence
O Dressing and undressing
High scoring:
O Communicating with others
O Planning and following a journey
O Getting around
PIP
The kind / amount of help:
Wipes out Mallinson and replaces it with:
‘Assistance’ – i.e. physical help; or
‘Prompting’
Needs to be either:
O Continual – “where the person providing the support
must help the individual for the entire duration of the
activity’ or
O Intermittent ‘where the person providing the support
must help the individual for over half the time that the
activity takes to complete’
Big impact for mental health
PIP
O Many ‘DLA difficulties’ no longer count at all
O Much of supervisory criteria is lost
O Distinguishes between physical and verbal help
O Much more defined activities – no longer
enough to be ‘in connection with’
O Help must be needed throughout an activity or
for more than half the time to count
O Rigid defining of what words mean:
O exclude many from qualification
O make it more complex
O Leave little scope for interpretation/ widening
qualification through Caselaw.
PIP – wider implications
Potential double whammy:
O loss of or reduction of disability benefit may also mean:
O loss of Carer’s Allowance and premium/addition
O loss of additional amounts in means tested benefits / tax
credits/ HB for the person with disabilities
Could more than double the effect for the poorest claimants
O Lost income may affect funding of personalised budgets,
supported living schemes, ILF, income from home care
charges etc
O Much higher impact in areas of high, long-term limiting
illness and disability.