Teenagers claiming Personal Independence Payment (PIP) for conditions such as anxiety can receive £100 a week more than part-time workers on the minimum wage, according to analysis by The Times. The figures come as Prime Minister Andy Burnham signals he could make it harder to claim benefits.
PIP Claims Soar Among Young People
PIP is intended to help with everyday tasks and extra living costs for those with long-term physical or mental health conditions or disabilities. Official figures earlier this year showed the number of claimants in England and Wales surpassed four million for the first time, roughly doubling since 2019. Of those, more than 87,000 are aged 16 and 17.
More than two-thirds of claimants on the upper tier of PIP (£194 a week) are claiming for mental health and neurodevelopmental conditions such as anxiety, depression, autism and ADHD. The Times reported that a 16-year-old on the under-18 minimum wage, working the legal maximum of 12 hours a week during term time, takes home about £94. In contrast, the same teenager signed off with anxiety can receive more than double the hourly equivalent without having to work.
Review Calls for Bold Reform
The analysis follows a review of disability benefits that found the system is “no longer fit for purpose,” with promises of “bold” reform. The review, launched last year after ministers were forced to back down from plans to reform disability benefits in the face of backbench Labour opposition, is being led by disability minister Sir Stephen Timms. The government has pledged no changes until the review is completed, with final recommendations due in the autumn. The review team said their recommendations will be “bold in nature and bold in recognition of the wider environment in which disabled people in the UK are living”.
Burnham Signals Tougher Conditions
New Prime Minister Andy Burnham has indicated he could tighten the conditions attached to receiving support. He told the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg: “It’s about changing the nature of the support and making some of the support conditional upon people taking opportunities that are presented in front of them. So you might increase the conditions required to receive benefits. I think it’s a good thing that the Government has given guarantees of opportunities for young people. And I think we need to continue down that approach and where mental health support is needed, for instance, it’s provided in work to support people in an opportunity.”
A Government spokesperson said: “Personal independence payment is an in and out of work benefit, to help with the extra costs of disability and health conditions. The Timms Review Interim Report is clear that PIP, as designed in 2013, is no longer fit for purpose, and the final recommendations due this autumn will lay the foundation for reform. We are investing a record £16.1 billion in NHS mental health services this year to ensure every person gets the mental health support they need as early as possible and have met our target to hire 8500 more mental health workers, three years early.”
