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Proposed changes to the Disabled Living Allowance
The Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) is planning to replace the Disability Living Allowance (DLA) for people aged 16 to 65 with a new benefit, the Personal Independence Payment (PIP). The current intention is that this will be gradually introduced from April 2013 for new claims and phased in from October 2013 over two to three years for existing claimants.
It won’t affect those under 16 until they reach their 16th birthday but, at that point, they will be assessed for PIP instead of DLA.
While PIP will be similar in some ways to DLA, there will be some significant differences.
The proposals, which are still going through Parliament, include the following:
· there will be two parts to PIP – one for ‘daily living’ and one for ‘mobility’ but each will have only two rates – standard and enhanced (rather than the current three in the care component)
· the application will be based less on the claim form and more on routine medical assessment, similar to those used for employment and support allowance
· the test will take greater notice of the aids and adaptations that someone uses when assessing the impact of disability; for example, applicants can score points if they need to use a guide dog, or if they need to use an aid or appliance other than spectacles or contact lenses to access written information
· claimants will need to demonstrate that they have had the mobility or care needs for three months and those needs will last another nine months at least
· there will be no automatic entitlement for people with specified health conditions e.g. those with visual impairments (other than those who are terminally ill)
· all awards will be periodically reviewed, with penalties if a claimant fails to report a change that would have resulted in a reduction in benefit.
Draft eligibility criteria show that claims will be assessed by looking at a person’s ability to carry out the following daily living activities/mobility activities:
daily living
- preparing food and drink
- taking nutrition
- managing therapy or monitoring a health condition
- bathing and grooming
- managing toilet needs or incontinence
- dressing and undressing
- communicating
- engaging socially
- making financial decisions
mobility
- planning and following a journey (including the use of public transport)
- moving around
Claimants will be awarded points, depending on how they manage these activities. The DWP will assess whether a person is able to do the activities in a reliable, safe and timely manner. If a person has difficulty with an activity for more than six months in total during a twelve month period, they will be awarded the appropriate points.
If a person scores 8-11 points on either the daily living or mobility activities they will get the standard rate of PIP for that component. If they score 12 or more points they will get the enhanced rate. No extra score will be given if people have difficulties during the night.
The proposed amounts of PIP are not yet known but the DWP is currently consulting on the number of points allocated to each activity. For further information see www.dwp.gov.uk/pip.
The intention is that either of the daily living components of PIP will act as a passport to the Carer’s Allowance.
Children under 16 are currently not affected by the proposals and will continue, for the time being, to claim DLA.
The DWP has said that it will look at how PIP is working for adults before considering any extension of it to new claims for children or to children already receiving DLA. There is also the possibility that the assessment for DLA/PIP may be linked to a single education, health and social care assessment. Any proposals about children will be subject to a separate consultation. For more information see www.dwp.gov.uk.
Further information explaining the proposed criteria has been produced by Disability Rights UK, available at www.disabilityalliance.org .
You can send any comments you may have on the impact of changes by e mail to pip.assessment@dwp.gsi.gov.uk.
