How likely are PIP vouchers now labour are in?

[CatOnALightSwitch]

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.

Theres a good chance that since the government that instigated the consultation is no longer in power, this will just be quietly binned off.

So U think it won't happen

Not in our lifetime, no. The new PM and new government have far more pressing things to sort out.

PIP has huge backlogs already, hasn't finished being rolled out to fully replace DLA for adults (I still know adults on DLA!). Adding more complicated processes to that won't be top of anyones priority list, even if they actually look at the consultation and evaluate the information it offers them.

That info is likely to be a ton of disability related charities and disabled people saying 'hell no, don't be so stupid' (as thats basically what I said when I filled it out the other day!).

I didn't realise the PIP roll out was still ongoing! Incredible.

Vouchers probably won’t be bought in for PIP. Many in work claim it.

The government look to be sorting out the sickness bill (prev known as ESA).

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/labour-benefits-sickness-work-liz-kendall-b2584903.html

It's certainly no less likely than it would have been under the Tories. Current discussion in the news seems to imply it would be rolled out for I think the number was 1.5 million PIP claimants with mental health issues first. It's very sweet that some posters hope Labour won't target the vulnerable but Labour has always said different eg Reeves repeatedly pledging to crack down on benefits harder than the Tories would have and various statements from Kendall.

There are articles in the papers today regarding getting long term sick back to work, although how they actually plan to do this I'm not sure. Job centres apparently to give more help as seven out of ten of these long term sickness benefit claimants want to work given the right opportunities.

That is about ESA though, not PIP, which is an in work benefit. Only pointing that out as there are some people very anxious about PIP on this thread.

Labour will have an uphill struggle with getting people off ESA and into work. Employers don't exactly queue up to employ people with long term health conditions or make the necessary aadjustmentsin order to do so.

The anti-disabled rhetoric of the previous conservative government was designed to be toxic and divisive. There's no way the new government will want to carry that attitude forward, There are ways that PIP could be improved (fewer tribunals, longer awards for lifelong conditions etc) and the voucher scheme was (I think) just a suggestion born from Tory politicos wanting to stop claimants "spending their buckets of cash on holidays and flat screen TVs" (I'm joking obvs but sadly many believe this rubbish). As for reducing numbers on long term sickness benefits, this is unrelated to the PIP consultation. It would be great if employers did more to support people with long term conditions and disabilities to find and stay in work, but sadly often not the case now.

Even though Reeves has said so many times that Labour will crack down far harder than the Tories on benefits? Labour have been explicit in their intentions.

Has it been confirmed yet

No, but they have said that the only way to grow the economy is to get working age people back into work and reviewing the sickness benefits (prev. ESA)..nothing to do with PIP, which isn’t an out of work benefit.

@Jess199512 in relation to any changes to PIP, nothing will happen until the results of the consultation have been reviewed and government makes any announcement based on that. No one can answer you on how long this may take. Personally I think the vouchers idea won't become reality.
In terms of ESA as a long term sickness benefit there will probably be some plans announced to reduce numbers on ESA and "encourage' people into work, although quite what this would entail is unclear.

I'm on pip just getting worried as I seen alot off media saying it been confirmed

Ignore the media. Stop reading newspapers and watching the news. I've pretty much stopped watching the news because it was so depressing

I hope they put money into meaningful support of disabled people rather than more unworkable and punitive systems that do nothing to prevent or support disability.

Welfare costs are increasing because of the above. If Labour wish to follow the Tory path - they will end up in the same predicament.

@Lammarammma I agree, the only meaningful way to reduce the benefits bill from disability and long term sickness is to reduce levels of ill health and enabling those that can work to be appropriately employed by employers that can support people including making reasonable adjustments for disability. The previous government seemed to focus particularly on those not working due to mental health problems, so logically we'd need to see a massive investment into mental health services to properly support people (and even then, of course there will be some whose mental health cannot be improved enough to work). We'll see......

Sonu think it will happen I'm so stressed

Yep, and the National Audit Office estimates that £££billions of benefits go unclaimed every year.

"This includes £870 million worth of PIP payments being underpaid, alongside £750 million in Disability Living Allowance. The majority of this is due to ‘unfulfilled eligibility,’ which means people not claiming what they could be."

Of course they're not going to look too hard or meddle too much with PIP, when these are the hard financial realities. Makes more sense to fix the NHS first and set up some genuine (not gimmicky) joint working programmes with job centre plus-type one-stop shops.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/pip-dwp-benefits-news-claim-disability-b2584198.html

Unlikely, thank goodness

Any updates on it. I'm getting worried

I'm not so sure, now. They recently voted to steal from pensioners. They seem to be trying to be Tories.

So it cud happen

I thought they voted to stop giving government supplements to pensioners who didn’t qualify after means testing? Surely we don’t need to be paying for those who can afford to pay for themselves?

@Jess199677 try not to worry. There has not been an announcement about PIP so far.