Personal Independence Payment Rob O’Carroll, Nick Smith, Claire de Banke, Craig Isherwood Department for Work and Pensions nawra national association of welfare rights advisers 10 th June 2011

The need to reform DLA Not fundamentally changed or updated since it was introduced in 1992 Lacks consistency in decisions – around half of DLA decisions are made without any additional medical evidence Complex and confusing – many people have told us claim forms are too long Lacks some of the basic checks fundamental to state benefits – no structured approach to reviews Not sustainable in its current form, in the long term

Replace DLA with a new benefit to be introduced for working age people from 2013 called Personal Independence Payment, that will: –continue to help contribute to the extra costs of living independently –recognise changes to individuals’ situations –be simpler to administer and easier to understand; and –have a new fairer, more objective and more transparent assessment Two components: –Mobility component –Daily-living component –Each component will have two rates – standard and enhanced The new benefit – key proposals

Personal Independence Payment will – –remain an extra-costs cash benefit –not be means tested or taxable –be available to people in or out of work; and –support those in the most difficult circumstances by maintaining special rules for people who are terminally ill Retains key features of DLA – what stays the same

Assessment: Focus is on assessing ability to participate in society – with priority in the benefit going to those least able to do so Assessment criteria identifies key everyday activities – providing a more assessment of the impact of a health condition or impairment on an individual’s ability to participate Individuals will be able to advise us on the best sources of supporting evidence Ensure the award continues to reflect the individual’s changing needs over time Working with disabled people to test the draft criteria: Seeking views from disabled people and stakeholders Now carrying out testing involving 1000 sample assessments (May to Sept) Will publish second draft of criteria in autumn Overview of the new assessment – what’s different

Implementing Personal Independence Payment Getting ready … Work underway in advance of introduction in 2013: -arrangements for taking new claims and reassessing existing customers -changes to our processes and systems (including IT) -new commercial contracts -guidance and training for our staff (including Decision Makers)

Implementing Personal Independence Payment Getting better … Opportunity to: -improve delivery arrangements and customer experience -differentiate our service, recognising our customers’ wide variety of needs -provide better information about the new benefit and clearer notifications -achieve different customer behaviour and attitudes

Implementing Personal Independence Payment Getting it right … Committed to involving disabled people and their representatives in our design and development: -PIP Implementation Consultation Group set up -finalising programme of involvement activity and research -seeking views on wide range of issues including migration strategy, claims process and forms and communications -key issue to talk about is how we support you to support disabled people …

A high number of people who claim DLA do so with the support of a customer representative and we expect that this support will continue to be sought by people claiming Personal Independence Payment We expect the introduction of Personal Independence Payment to present a challenge for customer representative groups Personal Independence Payment is a new benefit which will replace working age Disability Living Allowance (DLA) from 2013 There are significant differences between DLA and the Personal Independence Payment DLA will still exist for people age 16 and under and 65 and over Introduction of Personal Independence Payment 2013

We want to do all we can to support customer representatives by providing accurate information so that: Customer representative groups understand Personal Independence Payment rules of entitlement and the administrative process You can support our shared customers in understanding Personal Independence Payment and their decision to make a claim, and we can help remove any confusion around managing 2 different systems with potentially different administrative rules eg. Personal Independence Payment for working age customers and DLA for children and those currently on DLA aged over 65 Preparing for the introduction of Personal Independence Payment

How can we support welfare rights advisers to prepare for the introduction of Personal Independence Payment? To help us support you, we would like to ask:- What information do you need? How can we provide this effectively and efficiently? Is there anything else we need to consider?

Contact Details If you would like to get in touch, we can be contacted as follows:- Rob O’Carroll, DWP DCB Policy – Nick Smith, DWP DCB Policy - Claire de Banke, PDCS Personal Independence Payment Programme - Craig Isherwood, PDCS Customer Consultation Manager –