Further details about Labour’s review of Personal Independence Payments (PIP) have been revealed after the government’s climbdown over changes to the health-linked benefit in June.
The review will be led by veteran Labour MP Sir Stephen Timms, who shared more information about how he will approach the issue.
Currently claimed by 3.7 million people, PIP is designed to help with extra costs incurred by living with an illness or disability. Labour’s proposals to tweak the assessment criteria for the benefit to effectively make it harder to claim was met with fierce opposition from campaign groups and disabled people’s organisations.
Ministers backed down on the plans in late June after over 100 Labour MPs threatened to vote against the government on the measures. The concession was announced by Sir Stephen in the middle of the debate on the legislation.
One of the key criticisms against the plans was over the government’s lack of consultation with disabled people over the changes, leading to accusations that the legislation had been “rushed”.
Sir Stephen has now confirmed that his review of PIP will be co-produced with disabled people and disability organisations. Speaking to the BBC’s Access All podcast, he said: “We are going to be taking a lead from disabled people and representatives of disabled people in this work over the next year or so.”
However, the social security minister added this will likely only comprise a “fairly small group of ten people,” with the reviews recommendations likely then opened to a public consultation after its conclusion in Autumn 2026.
Sir Stephen also said that the review is “not intended to deliver cuts,” but that it “will certainly have to operate within the current projections for what spending is going to be.”
Labour ministers had originally planned to save around £5 billion from its planned changes to welfare spending, with £4.1 billion of this being from changes to PIP. With changes to the benefit no longer on the table, questions have been raised around how Labour may look to find these savings elsewhere.
Reflecting on the government’s forced U-turn over the changes, Sir Stephen said: “I think there’s been a lot of relief that that initial proposal is not being taken forward. I think people are pleased about that, and I understand why.
“What we’ve seen is an example of democracy doing what it’s supposed to do: people express their concern to their MPs, the MPs express those concerns in parliament, and the policy’s changed as a result.”
“I think that’s a positive example that we need now to build on in taking forward this review.”
