@Keso Just a quick glance at it this morning. Why what have you seen?
Some existing PIP claimants may lose their support group or LCWRA status and be transferred to the universal credit health element, where they may be required to carry out work-related activities, as early as 2026.
The government announced plans last month to axe the work capability assessment (WCA).
Under the new plans, claimants who get any element of PIP and who claim UC will automatically be eligible for an additional health element.
However, the new system will not automatically recognize any claimant as unable to carry out any work-related activities.
Instead, you may be set both voluntary and mandatory work-related requirements by a work coach and you will be subject to sanctions if you don’t meet the mandatory requirements.
When the plans were announced, the government stated that current claimants would not begin being transferred to the new system until 2029 at the earliest.
Only new claimants were said to be affected initially, with the system being rolled out by geographical area between 2026 and 2029.
However, evidence given to the commons work and pensions committee last week by the DWP contradicted this claim.
Conservative MP Nigel Mills asked: “What happens if I get a called for a new PIP assessment every couple of years and I get one of those in 2027? Does that drop me into the new rules or do I stay under the old ones?”
A senior DWP official responded:
“With the way we will roll this out, we start from 2026 with new claims only, but we will do it in a geographical, staged way. It would depend which area you were in in 2027. Yes, some people might come in under the new rules, and that means they would automatically get your UC health payment and would automatically get the support.”
Given that an increasing proportion of England and Wales, at least, will be moved onto the UC health element beginning in 2026, this would suggest that many thousands of existing PIP claimants who have a review of their award will find themselves being forced onto the UC health element earlier than 2029.
So, it looks like campaigning against the new proposals needs to start sooner rather than later, if existing claimants are to be spared the attention of work coaches with targets to meet.
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NEWLY PUBLISHED SECRET REPORT SHOWS SANCTIONS DON’T WORK
The DWP has finally caved in to pressure and published the secret report into the effectiveness of sanctions, slipping it out hours before the country shut down for the Easter bank holiday.
It shows that sanctioned claimants take longer to move into paid employment and earn less than those who have not been sanctioned. There is no evidence that sanctions are effective in any way at all.
Overall, claimants who have been hit with a sanction have 8% shorter UC claims than claimants who were not sanctioned.
But, very concerningly, the majority of those with shortened claims disappear– they do not move into paid employment.
Claimants who are sanctioned and who eventually move into PAYE work actually take longer to do so than those were not sanctioned and earn an average of £34 a month less.
The DWP argue in a ‘context note’ released with the report that the research cannot be relied upon because it did not take into account the value of the ‘deterrent effect’ of the sanctions regime.
The theory is that claimants in general are more likely to meet their obligations because they fear being sanctioned and so, overall sanctions are an effective tool.
However, in the three years since the draft report was created the DWP have chosen not to commission any independent research to test the truth of their deterrent effect theory.
Instead they intend to introduce a much harsher sanctions regime, when the only hard evidence they have about sanctions proves that they don’t work.
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GOVERNMENT DENIES BOTS WILL DISH OUT UC SANCTIONS
The DWP has now denied its own claims that it plans to automate the sanctions process and to allow work coaches to apply sanctions.
The DWP’s intentions were set out in a briefing paper which said that there would be “additional training for Jobcentre Work Coaches to ensure they are applying sanctions effectively” and that they would be “automating administrative elements of the sanctions process, including sending automated messages to claimants who fail to meet their Work Coach”.
The news was greeted with dismay by the PCS union, which represents DWP staff, who argued that it represented a “massive attack on claimants” and “a “computer says no culture”.
However, the DWP now claim that the only part of the process that will be automated is the sending out of a referral form to claimants who miss a mandatory appointment and that work coaches will not apply sanctions.
Benefits and Work will keep readers informed about the reality of what is actually happening with sanctions, as the truth unfolds over the coming months.
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NEW TERMINAL ILLNESS RULES FOR PIP, DLA AND AA
New terminal illness rules for PIP, DLA and AA have now come into force, meaning that the six month rule has been replaced by a twelve month rule, in line with universal credit.
The law now says that a person with a progressive disease is considered to be terminally ill when their death as a consequence of that disease can reasonably be expected within 12 months, as opposed to 6 months.
Form DS1500 has now been replaced with form SR1.
We’ve updated the PIP, DLA and AA guides in the members area of the site to reflect the changes.
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