The Timms Review is an opportunity to ensure that PIP can support disabled people and people with long-term health conditions to live with independence, dignity, and choice.
As its interim report makes clear, claiming PIP is often complex, stressful, and emotionally draining. It can be especially hard for people who experience mental distress, cognitive impairment, learning disability, fluctuating conditions, communication barriers, digital exclusion, trauma, poverty, or limited advocacy support.
SCIE welcomes the report’s emphasis that people with lived experience must be kept at the heart of the conversation, with their voice and experiences valued and taken seriously. The co-production approach adopted by the Timms Review will ensure that future proposals for PIP are shaped by people’s experiences and underpinned by fairness, consistency, and transparency.
We support a renewed focus on accessibility for people seeking PIP support as part of the review of the assessment process—away from emphasising narrow and restricted functional tasks. Assessment should take account of the real-life circumstances of disabled people and recognise the realities of life-long and long-term conditions, which cause people’s needs to fluctuate over time.
We look forward to supporting the co-chairs and the wider steering group to drive meaningful change.
Gerard Crofton-Martin
Interim Chief Executive of the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE)