I have received several emails from residents about the Government's 'Modernising Support' Green Paper about Personal Independence Payments (PIP).

First, I would like to reassure you that no changes to PIP benefits are currently planned to take place. This is simply a Government consultation on this important issue through the ‘Modernising Support’ Green Paper - which centres on targeting and improving the support for those who need it most. This Green Paper has been published to ensure everyone has a chance to shape welfare reforms that will modernise the support provided through the benefit system and Ministers will respond to the findings in due course. This is an open consultation that is due to close on 22nd July 2024 and you can have your say here: www.gov.uk/government/consultations/modernising-support-for-independent-living-the-health-and-disability-green-paper

It has been more than a decade since the introduction of PIP, with the intention that it would provide better targeted support to help disabled people with the extra costs arising from their disability. However, disability and ill health in Britain has changed profoundly since. With almost a quarter of the adult population reporting a disability in 2024, I agree with Ministers that now is the time to look again at how the benefit system can best support people to live full and independent lives.

Over the coming 5 years, PIP spending is expected to grow by 63% and there are now over 33,000 new awards for PIP per month - compared to 17,000 before the pandemic. With 2.6 million working aged people in receipt of PIP and Disability Living Allowance, we need to better understand how people are using these payments and whether more can be done to help those most in need to live full and independent lives. That is the purpose of this consultation to look at how the system is currently performing and how it could be made better. Again, I want to reassure you that no decisions will be made until this work has been completed.

Of course, this Government has introduced a series of reforms that have brought greater fairness to the welfare system whilst supporting the most vulnerable. We have introduced Universal Credit, a new modern benefit that ensures people are better off in work than on benefits. Ministers have also announced a £2.5 billion Back to Work Plan, radically expanding the employment support available to help more disabled people and people with health conditions to start, stay and succeed in work. The Work Capability Assessment is also being reformed to better reflect the modern world of work, with the Office for Budget Responsibility confirming that this will reduce the number of people assessed as not needing to prepare for work by 424,000 by 2028-29.

On top of this, following the pandemic and the effects of Putin’s barbaric invasion of Ukraine, the Government has provided unprecedented help for the most vulnerable in our society with £104 billion in cost-of-living support from 2022-25, one of the largest packages in Europe, which has prevented 1.3 million people from falling into absolute poverty. This included a Disability Cost of Living Payments of £150 in 2022 and 2023. The Energy Price Guarantee saw the Government capped and paid half of people’s energy bills when prices were at their highest. In April, we increased benefits by a further 6.7% and we have raised the Local Housing Allowance, benefitting 1.6 million households by around £800 this year on average.

I hope you have found this response reassuring.