Disabled People in Poverty Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department for Work and Pensions
Gill German
Main Page: Gill German (Labour - Clwyd North)Department Debates - View all Gill German's debates with the Department for Work and Pensions
(1 day, 13 hours ago)
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Gill German (Clwyd North) (Lab)
It is a pleasure, Ms Jardine, to serve under your chairship.
From discussions I have had in Clwyd North, it is clear that our systems need urgent reform. I have heard too many stories from PIP claimants of unacceptable obfuscation and delay that have led to both mental anguish and financial hardship. That has to stop.
I welcome the measures already being taken, but we urgently need to do more. We must waste no time at all in the review of the PIP assessment to make sure that it is fit for purpose, including the assessment criteria and the descriptors. We must also be more ambitious and far-reaching with employment support, both for those seeking and those already in work. I know it can be done. In Clwyd North, local authority partners work with DWP colleagues, the third sector and local employers to create bespoke pathways into work from any starting point. I am pleased that their work is now a Wales inactivity trailblazer, but that kind of support must not be the exception; it needs to be the norm.