Disability campaigners criticise report proposing PIP cuts: ‘Very concerning’

Disability campaigners have described a report proposing PIP payments are cut for one-in-six working age claimants as “very concerning”.

According to a new Resolution Foundation report, one in six working-age people receiving personal independence payment (PIP) report no additional costs from their disability. This means they are not using the disability benefit, which is set to undergo reforms following the Timms Review, in the way it was designed.

PIP was created to contribute to “the extra costs of overcoming the barriers faced by long-term disabled people to leading full and active lives”.

On that basis, the report’s authors argue that people who aren’t using it to pay for costs associated with their disability should no longer qualify for cash support – a move they estimate would save £4.4 billion.

“PIP is a vital benefit for disabled people that enables them to participate in society and live fuller and more active lives,” said Lindsay Judge, research director at the Resolution Foundation.

“There is no perfect system of disability support, but one that better reflects the fact that people often have multiple and fluctuating conditions must target greater support and engagement where it’s needed, and avoid waste where it’s not,” Judge continued.

The survey found that one in five (21%) of PIP recipients aged 16 to 24 reported little limitation and no additional costs from their disability, compared with 12% of all recipients. In total, one-in-six (16%) of working-age recipients fell into this category. 

But disability campaigners warned that cuts are not simple, and described the one-in-five figure as “inconsistent” with their own findings.

Jon Sparkes, chief executive of Mencap, said: “A learning disability is lifelong. The extra costs that come with it don’t go away, and neither should adequate support to meet them.

“The Resolution Foundation survey is inconsistent with our own research and understanding around the importance of PIP and what people with a learning disability and their families spend it on. For example, we know that it can be a lifeline when it comes to covering energy costs, attending appointments, sensory aids and taking part in community life.”

Resolution Foundation researchers surveyed more than 2,500 PIP recipients. Their findings are by no means a straightforward call for cuts: they found that more than four in five (85%) recipients aged 16 to 64 said their award allows them to take part in at least one “economically valuable or wellbeing-enhancing” activity. Among 16- to 24-year-olds, that rises to 96%.

On these grounds, the benefit remains “vital” for the vast majority of claimants. Researchers call for a redesign of the system which reflects the realities of living with a disability today, arguing that the PIP process should be less punitive and target “greater support and engagement where it’s needed”.

Read more:

• Timms Review recommends changes to ‘dehumanising’ PIP assessment process
• British public don’t back cuts to disability benefits – even Reform and Tory voters
• Labour is facing calls to means-test disability benefit PIP. Here’s why it would push up poverty

The pressure on the welfare system is real. In 2019, an average of 36,000 people made a new PIP claim each month in England and Wales. In the first seven months of 2026, that figure reached 76,000. Working-age disability benefit spending in England and Wales is expected to hit £27.8bn this year, 183% higher in real terms than when the benefit was introduced.

Disability benefits have consequently become a political lightning rod. Earlier this year, Reform proposed scrapping PIP altogether in favour of a stricter model, reducing the number of people on disability benefits by 40%. Campaigners described the proposal as “cruel and dangerous”.

The latest report does not namecheck Reform’s proposal, but it is blunt about politicians’ “crude and unrealistic” attempts to reform the system.

The government’s 2025 plans to limit eligibility were “ill-thought through”, it adds. Ministers U-turned after a backlash from their own MPs and disability campaigners and the Timms Review was established to find a better way forward. It has since found that the process of claiming PIP is “stressful and dehumanising”.

Why cutting support for mental health conditions won’t work

The right-wing press often advocates cutting support for mental health conditions. But the report argues that targeting specific diagnoses would be ineffective.

Conditions are a poor guide to need: 89% of recipients with ADHD and 87% of those with anxiety report extra costs, similar to the 93% with back pain and 94% with arthritis. Few people have just one condition. Fewer than 1% of recipients report only anxiety, ADHD or autism, meaning exclusions based on these diagnoses “are unlikely to deliver significant savings”.

Nor would a purely cost-based system solve the problem. It can be difficult to separate disability-related costs from everyday expenses, such as the extra heating someone with arthritis might need. 

And living with a disability can be very expensive: among recipients who report higher costs, 18% struggle to afford medication, 37% cannot heat their home adequately and 49% struggle to afford the healthcare they need.

The report also lays bare claimants’ experiences of PIP. Just 7% of recipients with a disability describe it as stable, while 87% have a fluctuating condition. Yet awards are often reviewed only every few years, with no contact in between. A review can mean a reassessment from scratch, potentially costing people hundreds of pounds a month.

One respondent told researchers: “Every day I live in fear of it [PIP] being taken away.”

Many recipients also said they were afraid to leave the house, exercise or work in case it counted against them at a future reassessment. The authors describe this “improvement trap” as “profoundly problematic”.

The Department for Work and Pensions should check in more regularly but with lower stakes, the report says, asking “what’s changed?” rather than starting the assessment process from scratch.

Ongoing, unconditional cash payments would still be the heart of the system, going to the vast majority (92%) of those who qualify. One-off payments would also be available for items such as mobility aids and adaptations to homes or vehicles.

Running “more sophisticated assessment(s) undertaken by more skilled assessors” would push up administrative spending, but it would be worth it, the report found. 

“It is possible to implement an improved PIP system that does more to help disabled people lead full and active lives, while still finding savings from the current system,” the report authors found. 

Sophia Kleanthous, policy and campaigns officer at Disability Rights UK, agreed that the system needs reform, but said that the organisation was “very concerned” about any movement away from PIP being a fully cash benefit.

“[We] question the 16% finding. Without knowing the exact wording of the question, it is hard to tell how people have interpreted it,” she said.

“Many disabled people don’t always think of their additional costs in this way; from paying higher energy bills due to temperature sensitivity to charging of mobility equipment and higher grocery bills for specific dietary needs as a result of our impairments. Disabled people are far more likely to be in poverty, meaning that even when they are aware of what support they need they may never have enough financial ability to get it.”

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