Amber Rudd is to announce that claimants of pensionable age will no longer face reassessment for personal independence payment (PIP), according to press reports today.
Rudd is due to make her first speech on disability benefits today and the press have been briefed that she will announce that:
“Disabled pensioners have paid into our system for their whole lives and deserve the full support of the state when they need it most.
“This government therefore intends to change the landscape for disabled people in Britain: to level the terrain and smooth their path.
“The changes I am setting out today, including stopping unnecessary reassessments for disabled pensioners, are a step forward in improving quality of life for the UK’s 14 million disabled people.”
There are also suggestions that Rudd will announce a pilot scheme to combine PIP assessments with work capability assessments for employment and support allowance.
We’ll have more on this story as it unfolds.