How likely are PIP vouchers now labour are in?

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Just as the title says really.

It doesn't affect me as I don't claim any benefits and work full time however my son and mother are on PIP and I'm not sure how vouchers would work for them and I'm a little bit worried.

I know there is previous threads on this but I can't see any being mentioned now labour is in.

Is it worth worrying about or is it a wait and see what happens situation?

Thanks all.

It was a Tory announcement change pip from being money paid monthly to vouchers for taxis etc.

I don't think it was even in their manifesto, it was just an announcement as part of the election campaign.

Labour haven't mentioned this at all, so I don't expect them to make this change to pip

As has been mentioned here, nobody knows right now, what will happen. It really is a case of wait, and see. I do not see how such a scheme would be viable though. The needs of disabled people are legion.

Very unlikely.

Labour seem to have priorities that they are working their way through (lots of announcements already) and changing pip isn't on their priority list.

These are their five priorities.

labour.org.uk/change/mission-driven-government/

Disability and benefits aren't on the list.

I do think that the PIP system should be looked at, and reformed. The voucher scheme dreamt up by the Cons, is a non starter, thank goodness.

The suggestion from the new government seems to be to help people who are too sick to work get well by improving access to healthcare, rather than punishing them for being ill.

The voucher idea is punitive, unworkable and arguably expensive to implement. It’s Tory ideological punishments. I don’t think Labour stand for that sort of thing.

I mean how would it even work?
The whole point of DLA/ PIP is that it can be spent on anything thst benefits the disabled person
Be that an electricity bill or a spa day how could you pay for such diverse things with vouchers?

I think the new government should look at PIP in the context of NHS waiting lists and available NHS diagnostic services & treatments, moving the application system online, sorting out the mess that is the assessment and review process, addressing the wildly inappropriate lengths of awards (e.g. 2-3 years for incurable, debilitating, lifelong conditions), training staff properly, addressing the disconnect between the law/statute and the DWP's interpretation of such, the frequent breaching of disability rights within the Equality Act 2010, the number of cases won by the claimants at tribunal (c. 70%), and the amounts paid to claimants in very different circumstances.

The PIP system is currently such a shambles (in my opinion) that it does need analysis and change. I hope the new government finds the consultation returns from charities, benefit advisory organisations and individuals informative.

The chances of the solution(s) involving vouchers, food stamps, tokens for therapy etc are so minuscule, I'm not going to waste any time or energy worrying about it. The government doesn't even know what the problem is yet.

Vouchers are a non-starter. PIP needs drastic overhaul though.

God forbid that anyone gets anything that benefits them. 🙄

A voucher scheme would be too hard to administer, and could not possibly cater to the many needs that disabled people have. I await to see, or hear of Labour's plans for disability benefit proposals. In the meantime I will not trouble myself with worrying about it.

Vouchers would work for very few people. It would be ok for my 11 year old if we got asda/Tesco/Amazon vouchers because his dla goes mostly on nappies, trousers, waterproof sheets, washing powder and the electric for the heated airer. So most of that could be covered by vouchers. But ds1's pip mostly goes on fuel for the car and ds5's goes on fixing/replacing the things he breaks. It also gets used in regular trips to soft play.

Ds1 heard about the voucher proposal and asked hopefully if I thought he might get hmv vouchers instead of PIP!

people often seem to confuse PIP with things like LCR - which is an extra payment for UC, and can be signed off by a 'sick note' fr a better term, even though I hate that expression

Obviously not as simple as that - but by linking the two in the public's mind, many people can be riled up in arms at the benefit bill, assuming PIP recipients are workshy scroungers faking illness.

That rhetoric was played large during the voucher scheme proposal

PIP is generally (and I say 'generally' because there are always loopholers) very tricky to get.

PIP is not means tested, and PIP often assists disabled people to be able to work, although understandable many others simply cannot access work, or are not in any position to.

PIP often gets taken to tribunal and a rejection overturned, because the previous government put targets on it to decrease the bill, despite it having an exceedingly low fraud rate - this costs the treasury far more in the long run, and takes up a huge amount of time and effort.

For long term disabilities or progressive illnesses I do think that the system needs overturning - a return to the lifetime awards that were previously awarded with DLA. Alot of additional MH issues are caused by the process itself, when those people are never going to get better, but are constantly frightened that anything they attempt (even if they fail) will be used as an excuse to strip them of their support. There should be a list of conditions, regularly reviewed, for which it is lifetime eligible

PIP awarded for MH issues, or for disabilities that are dragging on and on because of delays/lack of access to NHS care will hopefully be improved by the government tackling the NHS. To get PIP the condition needs to be longterm and proven by medical records to be longterm.

LCW/LCWRA is means tested. It can be a longterm grading on UC for those too unwell to ever work (so yes, some PIP recipients will get this as well) but also as a stand alone benefit for sickness that stops you being able to work in the short term. Again, a huge amount is directly related to lack of access to NHS services - be that waiting lists for treatment, or MH therapy, or as a MH problem driven directly by poverty. Again, get NHS up and functioning properly, alot of the knock on effect of this will improve. To get these two benefits you still need input from an outside source - a sick note from the DR or evidence of a short/longterm condition.

Vouchers was only ever a nod to the demographic who think that the whole country is full of scrounging workshy fakers, who are being given money to do nothing. They would have been meaningless for the majority of PIP recipients, especially as the capacity in the NHS wasnt there. To be honest it felt to me more like another ponzi Tory scheme to allow some mates to set up another agency to manage the vouchers and cream some more profit out of the country at the expense of those who can least afford it.

Watching this with a sense of unease.

My daughter is only 5 now so on DLA rather than PIP currently.

Labour have already said they're pushing for "inclusivity" in mainstream schools and reserving specialist provision for only the most complex so it wouldn't surprise me if they try to pull something here with PIP.

The whole move was to give people cash rather than providing services. The idea that you give the a voucher is just time wasting. Provide the services for free again or let people pay for what they want.

I don’t think it will happen. Disability bashing was more of a reelection arseholery. It won’t save the country money to provide vouchers and contrary to popular belief disability benefits aren’t massively abused. My own opinion is that there is a lot of poor provision for disabled children and that’s what should be addressed first but nobody gives a crap about reality.

Quite, I couldn't agree more with all of this.

If I Were Labour, I would be looking to see the costings , they need too save money and it could be a way to cut cost of thoses who really won't need the help.

After all right now it is if you got it before 2017 your paid, after you get nothing and it is quiet a bit extra a month.

Vouchers are extremely unlikely for a number of reasons, it would be tied up in courts forever and be appalling optics for the new, kinder politics Kier Starmer is trying to usher in. Like many of the later tory policies it's imported from the US which has a very different attitude to 'welfare' in general.

Labour have made it clear their primary worry is the escalating number of young people 'checking out' of the system and this is where the initial focus will probably go. They certainly do not want to continue the previous administration's campaign of hatred towards the most vulnerable in society.

Equally, the terrible ATOS/CAPITA administered 'assessments' which stripped support from so many came in under Blair, and any government will have to do something about the ballooning bill.

Ds1 heard about the voucher proposal and asked hopefully if I thought he might get hmv vouchers instead of PIP! 😂 The optimism of youth! ‘Sod petrol mum, I’m getting some vinyl’

As a disabled person I have just completed a government issue survey ref pip reform and it mentions vouchers several times.
It also talks about other schemes such as a catalogue for aids and services so it is definitely still being discussed.

Got what? Are you talking about pip or LCW/WRA?

I can’t see it. Vouchers are expensive to administer, and often ineffective.

The focus from Labour seems more about getting more younger people into work, and slashing the ESA/UC bill.

🙄🙄

Labour are not the saviours of the disabled now the Tories are gone by a long shot. It was a key reason I was (and still am) very wary about them now being in government. Labour have made it very clear they want to encourage people into work as much as possible - snipping PIP in some manner would absolutely be part of that. As for their sen inclusion manifesto, I’m yet to see how it’s not all words and no action, because even the words just seem like unreseached soundbites to me.