Sara has come to know that she will probably be capable Keep him personal freedom payment (PIP) After months of concern.
The 40-year-old mother works from home, which allows her to avoid life with a new parent and her being. HandicapChronic fatigue syndrome in her joints means that she regularly experiences brain fog and tiredness, and needs help.
And this is his Stool This makes it possible, helps him to bear a career, stay in work and spend time with his child.
3.7 million people claimed, health related benefits Proposed welfare improvement of labor Staying with a disease or disability is designed to help with extra cost.
Government of government Concessions On the plan to cut welfare expenses, it now means that the whole strict eligibility will not be subject to norms when evaluated for the next benefit.
Instead, since November 2026, only the new contenders are ready to be subject to tight criteria only, going through Parliament under the Labor Bill.
But Sara says that she is Struggle to see it as a win.
“If there is another whole that is born a few years later, and ended in this position, it is still frightening,” she says.
“It is encouraging some disabled people to throw other disabled people under the bus. And it is vicious, as it depends on some people who are ‘enough to say well, we can take what we can get’.”
And like so many other people, Sara did not get applications to start an easy process for PIP.
“It looks really intentional”
Sara says, “It seems that you are constantly trapped.” “It really seems to be intentional, how difficult it is. It seems extremely intentional. Because there are many ways it can be made more accessible to people with disabilities.”
Through her assessment for Pip, in half the way, Sara’s baby daughter started crying in another room. This caused her to panic, and she shouted to her husband that the child may need to be replaced.
Because of this, “the evaluator said that I was clearly capable of responding to my daughter’s needs and was able to assess what she wanted,” Sarah says.
“But I told him that I cannot care for my daughter myself, I trust others who do so for myself. I need someone with him while I am with him.”
None of this was included in his report, claiming.
And this is not just all.
Ginni’s husband Tim revealed myotonic muscular dystrophy in 2006, a progressive genetic condition that affects muscles and movement.
Mother-in-law also works part-time while taking full-time care of her husband. His Pip Award means that Ginni is entitled to the allowance of £ 200 carers, which says that he is necessary to support his family.
“Tim doesn’t like to accept it, but people often cannot understand what he says. Every day I ask her to repeat myself as my wife, and I know her well,” Ginni tells her.
“They were asked to repeat themselves at least five times during the evaluation. But when it came to the report, it said that the assessor had no problem in understanding it.”
Ginni says that the evaluator also wrote that Tim Library was managing part -time work for 25 hours as an assistant. He was really doing just 25 things hours One month, more than just six hours a week, Ginni says.
‘Do you have a dog?’
In a PIP evaluation, the evaluator will decide whether an applicant has a limited ability to complete daily life activities. They do this by asking the applicants to carry out several activities, which give them points on limiting their capacity.
According to a former assessor, initial questions can be included: “How are you today? How do you reach here? Do you have a dog?”
An applicant can be forgiven to think that these questions are just small things, their PIP evaluation is compatible with and trying to ease them in this process.
But in most cases, the evaluation has already begun, says former workers. How they answer these questions can be a difference between a lifeline to pay for their health costs or nothing.
The pre -evaluator, who wanted to be anonymous, stated that this approach is the standard for PIP evaluators. It is permission under WPPThe PIP assessment guide, which recommends evaluator to “informal observation” that may be “discrepancies”.
“As soon as you say to them, ‘I am here to assess, is it okay?” And they say yes, it has started, ”she says.
“And then you will comment, you will look around the room for their pictures on the children on vacation. You are looking for evidence that they are not telling the truth.”
According to voting by disability charity sense, more than half (51 percent) of complex people need to feel humiliated during the report during complex needs benefits assessment. Another 45 percent said that this process made their symptoms worse.
Charity’s policy advisor, Ivan John said: “I think sometimes when you hear some discussion around the pip, someone feels that it was an easy advantage to claim, but this experience is actually divorced from the experiences of people with disabilities.”
“We want to see a system that treats disabled people with dignity, which properly assesses people, but does not feel like criminals that they should try to reach that support.”
‘You have to fight teeth and nails’
Neither Sara nor Tim were given any marks in their PIP evaluation. Instead, he asked for a mandatory idea, but was down and faced a long wait for an appeal in a tribunal.
“We fully know the compulsory idea that they will simply bring it down because it seems standard with them,” says Ginni. “But it was just a step to go to appeal.”
Sara was only given the lowest rate of pip after the tribunal, while Tim was honored in light of more medical evidence.
About 56 percent of PIP assessments resulted in reward between 2019 and 2024. But about two-thirds of the decisions overturned in the independent tribunal stage from the DWP by a panel of decision makers, including a judge.
“You have to fight teeth and nails,” says Ginni. “All the government talks are being found very easily about people ‘or’ ‘supporting people who have the most serious condition’.
“In my book, my husband has a serious condition and it seems that they are re -defined disability to suit themselves.”
It remains to be seen whether concessions on the welfare schemes of the government will be sufficient Appeal backbencher wave On Tuesday, it was set to vote on measures with MPs.
A DWP spokesperson said: “The fact that PIP assessment suppliers and healthcare professionals are involved in this process, but are only a part of the evidences used-there is no role in their decision-making process, and is clearly directed that they do not form the basis for their opinion on the situation seen in the evaluation.
“We are creating a permanent welfare system that really supports sick and disabled people, while always protects people who need the most, and in its heart our review of PIP evaluation to ensure that it is fit for the future.
“We will work with a series of people with disabilities and experts because we provide our plan for change.”
