Changes to Disability Living Allowance

Update on Changes to Disability Living Allowance

Challenges in the House of Lord to the proposal in the Welfare Reform Bill to replace Disability Living Allowance with the Personal Independence Payment failed.  However the Government has made some small concessions:

• The proposal to extend the qualifying period from 3 months to 6 has been dropped. 
• People in care homes will be entitled to the mobility component so long as they satisfy the qualifying conditions.
• Two independent reports will be now be conducted; at two years and four years.

In addition the implementation plans for both new and existing claimants have been extended with the hope that if problems arise in the assessment there will be scope to make changes (although there are no explicit statements about this from the Government).

The Government will begin by taking a few thousand new PIP claims from April 2013. Once thye've tested the processes and systems, they will take new claims from all claimants from around June 2013.

Any existing Disability Living Allowance (DLA) recipients who report a change in their condition from Autumn 2013 will be reassessed for entitlement to PIP. This will also apply to claimants whose DLA award is due to be renewed from autumn 2013.

A few thousand existing DLA claimants will be assessed for PIP from Autumn 2013.  The process of assessing all the remaining claimants will begin in early 2014 with aim of completing the programme of assessment by March 2016.  Claimants will be selected for assessment by a system of random selection.

The next stage of consultation on the introduction of the PIP has begun.  On 16 January 2012, the Government published more detail on the second draft of the Personal Independent Payment assessment criteria - particularly on entitlement thresholds, impact modelling and case studies.  The consultation closes on 30 April.  Because of the technical nature of this consultation Equality B&NES will not be responding.  But if you have any comments we will pass them on to Disability Rights UK (the new organisation created by the merger of RADAR, Disability Alliance and the National Centre for Independent Living.