Personal Independence Payments

Wednesday 17th December 2014 Written Statements

[The Minister for Disabled People (Mr Mark Harper)]

The Government are pleased to announce that the first independent review of the personal independence payment (PIP) assessment, carried out by Paul Gray, will be published later today. This is the first of two independent reviews as required by the Welfare Reform Act 2012.

Paul Gray has explored how the PIP assessment is operating from the perspectives of claimants, health professionals and other staff involved in delivery and has made a number of recommendations designed to improve the claimant experience. He has concluded that it is too early to draw definitive conclusions about the overall effectiveness of the PIP assessment based on available published data and has made recommendations to help the Department ensure the fairness and consistency of award outcomes in the future.

The Government welcome the review and will publish a detailed response in due course.