Changes to PIP

[Orangesandlemons77]

It looks like to qualify for PIP people will need 4 points in one area, see here from the Times
"In future, ministers will require applicants to score at least four points on at least one activity to qualify"
Not sure if this means in each section (care, mobility)

This would exclude quite a few people I think

Are you saying that if no one ever prompted you to eat or drink you would starve to death? Would your children starve to death also because you need prompting to feed them?

What you describe sounds like the side effects of many conditions. I have struggled with fragile mental health for 40 years and take medication to manage it. My mood fluctuates massively, and when I’m feeling low, I often don’t feel like cooking, washing, or doing housework. It’s not that I’m incapable—I can cook, wash, and use a hoover—I just lack the motivation and desire to do it.

Sometimes I go weeks without making a proper meal, relying on coffee loaded with sugar for some energy.

But I don’t see myself as having a disability that the welfare state should compensate for. I’ve lived with this condition for so long that, to me, it’s just normal and something I manage myself.

I struggle to understand why someone like yourself with a good job, who has managed to give birth and parent children would claim that theoretically, you could claim PIP because you sometimes need prompting to eat and drink.

A serious eating disorder would be something like anorexia, where even with prompting, the person still doesn’t want to eat and faces a genuine risk of death or dysphagia following a stroke. Unless without prompting you would wither away and die I don't see that as a major disability that needs financial compensation.

You are clearly an intelligent woman whose cognition is intact so could easily use your mobile to set up regular reminders to eat/drink - it's not rocket science.

I acknowledge that you said you wouldn't apply for PIP but I wonder how many people like yourself would still apply out of a sense of entitlement.

I think there are too many people claiming to have a disability for minor conditions that with a bit of common sense and planning could easily be self-managed but instead, they expect the welfare state to sort it out for them.

You can’t surely be saying we shouldn’t support people who were failed through a lack of early intervention?

I’m not sure I really agree that early intervention is the only window of opportunity but if we accept your statements about it surely these adults need support because they have been damaged by not having their needs met.

I have heard a rumour that parents are going to no longer be allowed to bring appeals to SEND tribunals which certainly won’t help children with needs get support to fulfil their potentials.

There are a lot of ND children who are very talented and academic actually. And others who excel at different things. The problem is that one-size-fits-all classes of 30 plus make all of their difficulties worse. They burn out very quickly and won’t leave the house and don’t find their niche for work. In the 80s and 90s school class sizes were more like 18 than 30-40.

As a ND child myself, I didn’t fulfill my potential due to misunderstandings. Although my parents did eventually put me into a private school where I did better.

I know of autistic children who’ve ended up being tube fed because they would not eat / have ARFID.

So do take your ignorance elsewhere until you have bothered to actually find out about the ways in which autistic kids often have zero self preservation.

Please read all my posts on the subject and I think you'll see I'm very supportive of helping these people as much as possible. I have very close an personal interest, and lived experience. I was asked how I'd respond to spiralling costs and have said that earlier intervention would be a good long term investment. However the reality is that so many have been left to flounder without early intervention that of course it's our duty to support them.

There are the same old posters on every thread who have plenty to say but clearly know absolutely nothing about the reality of it.

Yes I've heard that too and I've written to my MP about it (sadly, the response did nothing to reassure me).

My dd is on the autism diagnosis pathway and my ds has just been diagnosed with adhd. Both able to function very well in mainstream, with reasonable adjustments and appropriate support at home and at school. Getting an ehcp in place for dd was a game changer for her. She's gone from being a school avoider to thriving. Which is why I'm a passionate advocate of getting the right support in place early on.

But demand avoidance is ‘pathological’. That means inherent, it cannot be weeded out of somebody. Or can it? The narrative is so nebulous and convoluted at this point, it gets very hard to discuss in any logical terms. But that’s my understanding of what pathological means.

We have the highest tax burden since WW2, so being sniffy that people won’t pay yet more tax is ridiculous in my view. They pay their fair share, and it’s not selfish to want a quality of life yourself and not just work to support others and their various needs.

I realise this reads harshly but somebody needs to offer a different perspective which I suspect the silent majority hold.

If you're really that interested in educating yourself about PDA, there's loads available online. The reality is that you don't understand it, have no interest in understanding it, no direct experience of it nor empathy with those who do and no desire in looking at the reasons for it and possible solutions. So continuing the debate with you is like pissing in the wind.

"I'd be interested in the number of families that have a motability car as well as taxis to and from school costing thousands every year."

The car is not free. The child loses the mobility component of their DLA.

It's not reasonable to expect a parent to spend 4 hours a day driving their disabled child to school especially when they may have been up all night with the child.

People should also realise that children whose parents have had to give up work to take care of them are receiving a fraction of the money that would be spent by the council on the care of the child if the child was in a residential placement.

My daughter who has very high care needs and 2:1 care cost the state a lot less when I was receiving carers allowance for her vs the eye-wateringly expensive care placements that she’s had and continues to have because there’s no alternative. Her SW has told me that her placements cost the council about £500,000 per year.

Now, obviously not all people require 2:1 but any placement is going to be more expensive than the child living at home. Residential schools are almost always independent schools because councils don’t have them.

And before some smart arse says that parenting your child is a usual thing to do, my point is that since disabled children are not like NT children, their parents often can’t work because they can’t go to after-school activities or a child minder like NT children.

Yes this is the situation of some parents I know. More than one disabled dc and neither can work they are literally both exhausted appts all the time , part time schooling at different schools and little sleep it’s clearly relentless I’m amazed at their resilience.

Exactly ! It’s not a free car!

really can’t believe the appetite for cutting dla and support for children when that’s not even part of the current reforms seems a lot of people are desperate for a phase 2 that punishes disabled children and their parent carers. It’s disgusting.

They’re miserable because their own standards of living have gone downhill so for some reason hurting people more vulnerable than them will make them feel better.

There was a BBC article which had a young autistic adult who was getting £400 a month to spend to private OT but she just used it for general spending. There was no rules about what it was spent on. The person worked. This seems to be utter madness to me. There is OT available on the NHS. You get on the waiting list for that if needed. You don’t get paid benefits so you can go private fgs!!!

The article was supposed to highlight how hard some people had it. It certainly had the opposite effect on me!

I think as well a huge huge amount of people have what I liken to some kind of filter disorder. They see another persons life and it’s just a snapshot they may see a good moment where a child looks ok and they are getting into a new car and they make an assumption but it’s not based on reality it’s like a filter on a photo making someone look great when really they look awful. They get jealous and it’s unpleasant to see unfold.

And the waiting lists for some services are more than a year so it’s common sense to use benefits to pay for private therapy to stop conditions deteriorating to the point they cost the nhs even more in the long run.

So taxpayers who also need OT but aren’t officially disabled have to wait while others who have a certificate get to jump the queue? Errr, no. NHS or you pay for yourself. And getting benefits for this that you can spend on anything???? Madness!

You’ve fallen right into the trap haven’t you.

Those at the bottom fighting each other while those at the top laugh . Surely from what you’ve said you can see that real solution is fixing the nhs so that nobody has to wait or deteriorate.

Well, that’s the changes laid out.

Under 22s won’t be able to claim health elements of benefits.

LCWRA to be scrapped, PIP only.

PIP eligibility to be narrowed.

People will be eligible to work a bit without losing their benefits.

JSA and ESA to be merged into a time limited new benefit.

OT has always been a very scarce resource. You can’t just get on a waiting list for it either. So much ignorance 🙄

So if you get 4 points on one question on the daily living part you keep your pip and also don’t get forced into work if your unable too (long as you have pip in place)? Did I hear that right?

I like that people will be able to work a bit without losing their benefits - I hope that goes hand in hand with more support in the workplace, understanding of absences etc.

Scrapping LCWRA is scaring me; I need that to be able to pay my rent etc. My rent goes up by £100 in May; my council tax is over £200 a month. I don't understand what benefit there is to scrapping LCWRA when it's for those who are least able to work? Or is there a "top up" somewhere else that I'm missing?

The changes won’t come into actikn
until November 2026.