The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has confirmed that the final report on the review of Personal Independence Payment (PIP), including its recommendations, is due to be published around November.
Senior DWP minister Sir Stephen Timms updated the Work and Pensions Committee about the major study, which is looking at how to reform PIP to make the benefit rules fair and suited to the needs of those with a disability or health condition. PIP provides payments to help cover the extra costs a claimant has due to living with a long term health condition, illness or disability.
Interim report findings
Asked for the latest on the review, Sir Stephen told the committee: "We published our interim report, the results of which were largely drawn from the call for evidence responses. We had 38,000 responses to our call for evidence, and those themes that you've picked out were very, very strongly represented in the replies that we received."
Published in July 2026, the interim report set out how the steering group overseeing the review had "heard consistent testimonies of how PIP is valued as a benefit, but at the same time is experienced as being not fit for purpose". Over 50 per cent of respondents said they valued the benefit, but around half of responses said that PIP does not pay enough.
Current PIP rates
PIP currently pays £194.60 a week at the highest rate, worth around £10,100 a year. There are varying levels of payment depending on to what extent your condition affects you.
The benefit includes a daily living element and a mobility element, with a lower and higher payment for each part. You can get one part while getting zero award for the other.
These are the current weekly rates:
- Daily living - Lower: £76.70, Higher: £114.60
- Mobility - Lower: £30.30, Higher: £80.00
November date for recommendations
Sir Stephen said the review group is now working towards its final report, which will come out later this year. He said: "We are now starting to draft the kind of recommendations that will be in our final report, which is due in, I think, about November."
He shared some more details about how these recommendations will be decided on. The Labour minister said: "We've got a steering group. I'm one of three co-chairs. We've got 12 members of the steering group. Of those 12, all but one are disabled people. And between us, we will come up with a set of recommendations for the future of PIP. And I think the wellbeing of people claiming PIP is going to be a central concern of the group that's doing that work. And that's very fully represented in the regular, all-day meetings that we're having at the moment."
Shaping recommendations workshops
The review team will be talking to more people over the coming weeks as it puts together these recommendations. Sir Stephen said: "We've now got a series of what we're calling 'shaping recommendations workshops'—a different set of workshops. They'll be running for a month from the middle of September. We've invited a number of disability organisations to host those workshops, and we've issued an open invitation to people who'd like to take part."
These workshops are taking place online and in person in September and October, in different parts of the country. The final date has now closed to register your interest in taking part in these workshops. The minister said: "We've had, I think, something like 3,000 people saying they would like to take part. We'll be choosing round about 300 of those to fill up those workshops that we are running. And again, making sure we've got broad representation will be an important consideration in deciding who is invited to take part."
Guidance on the Government website indicates that people who are chosen to take part should be told by Friday, September 4.
