Aspire has responded to the Government’s initial draft of the Personal Independence Payment (PIP) assessment criteria.

The Disability Living Allowance is a tax-free benefit allocated to people according to their mobility and care needs. It is not subject to means testing and is there to recognise the additional costs that disabled people incur as a result of their impairment or condition.

As part of the Welfare Reform Bill which is currently going through Parliament, it is proposed that that Disability Living Allowance will be scrapped and replaced with a new benefit; the Personal Independence Payment.

The Government has published a draft assessment, which you can view here.
Aspire has taken up the Government’s invitation to respond to the draft assessment, raising concerns that people with spinal cord injury who invest in a wheelchair that better suits their needs could find themselves worse off than if they carried on using a bulky wheelchair, which meant that they would require help in getting around. 

Over the summer, the Government will be testing the proposed assessment to ensure that they are accurately and consistently assessing individuals and to understand the likely impact of the new assessment better. 

Read Aspire’s response and our initial response in February 2011 to the Government’s consultation paper on the Disability Living Allowance.