Personal Independence Payment

Personal Independence Payment (abbreviated to PIP and usually pronounced as one word) is a welfare benefit in the United Kingdom that is intended to help with the extra costs of living with a long-term health condition or a disability. The PIP Assessment Guide (Updated on 1 May 2016) states: 'It would not be practical for the assessment to take account of the impact of a health condition or impairment on all everyday activities, nor to seek to include all possible areas where extra costs may be generated.'

It is non-means-tested, non-contributory and tax-free; it is not linked to a person's ability to work and it is available equally to people in or out of work. It is not intended to be a substitute for a person's earnings, unlike Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) or ESA's predecessor, Incapacity Benefit.

Eligibility for PIP is based upon the practical effects of a condition on a person's life, rather than the condition itself. It is not currently available to children; it can be claimed by adults under the State Pension age, and people already on the benefit will continue to receive it after they retire. PIP and the benefit it replaces are predominantly received by older people, because increasing age is the main risk factor for developing disabling diseases.

PIP was introduced by the Welfare Reform Act 2012 and began to replace Disability Living Allowance (DLA) for new claims from 8 April 2013, by means of an initial pilot in selected areas of north-west and north-east England. A full roll-out across Great Britain was planned for October 2013. However, this roll-out was delayed - primarily because the main contractor, Atos, wanted to ensure that the process was as reliable as possible; also, the assessments took much longer than expected, and assessors were hard to recruit - and as a result ministers announced that the roll out would happen more gradually than originally planned.

Although PIP was expected to cut costs by 20% over the longer term, costs were forecast to rise by £1billion to £15.4billion in 2015-16, partly due to a rise in mental health issues and learning disabilities. New rules were introduced in 2017 and many charities say disabled people will be left without support. The Disability Benefits Consortium (DBC) (comprising charities including Parkinson's UK, The MS Society and Mind) claimed about 160,000 people receiving PIP would be affected by proposed changes. Phil Reynolds of the consortium said, "Across the DBC we have had our helpline and advice services inundated by calls about PIP since it was introduced. Instead of supporting disabled people, the benefits system seems increasingly rigged against them. The whole system needs urgent improvement, in order to accurately assess the support they need. Disabled people cannot afford to wait." Charities that represent mental health and learning disability groups claim the changes do not recognise that the costs connected with those conditions are as severe as for other impairments.

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