The consultation on plans to replace personal independence payment (PIP) with vouchers or a catalogue ends on 22 July, with Labour so far showing no signs of disowning the proposals.  Benefits and Work is urging readers to have their say before it is too late.

As most readers will be aware, the Conservatives published a Green Paper on the future of PIP in April 2024.  Amongst the proposals were suggestions that instead of regular cash payments, PIP could be replaced with:

  • A catalogue/shop scheme
  • A voucher scheme
  • A receipt based system
  • One-off grants

Labour failed to condemn these proposals in the run-up to the general election and have continued to remain silent since gaining power, even though there is now no risk of them losing votes by speaking out.

According to the Mirror:

“Labour insiders have hinted they'll review the public's response to these proposals after the consultation wraps up on July 22, which falls three weeks post-election.”

Labour have also said nothing about planned changes to the work capability assessment (WCA) from 2025, that would lead to an estimated 424,000 claimants losing over £400 a month.

Ten leading charities, including:

  • Child Poverty Action Group
  • Disability Rights UK
  • Joseph Rowntree Foundation
  • Mind
  • Save the Children

have written to Liz Kendall, secretary of state for work and pensions.  They have asked her to halt the proposed changes to the WCA and to PIP and replace them with plans that are “redesigned with disabled people at the centre.”

So far, there has been no response.

You can find out more about the changes to PIP and how to take part in the consultation here.

UPDATE 11 July

Liz Kendall made a speech in Leeds today in which she said that rising levels of economic inactivity are unacceptable and that immediate action must be taken.  She highlighted the fact that a record 2.8 million people are out of work due to long-term sickness. 

Kendall said that the government would: ".... create more good jobs, make work pay, transform skills, and overhaul jobcentres, alongside action to tackle the root causes of worklessness including poor physical and mental health."

Kendall made no reference to PIP or work capability assessment changes and did not address the issue of the speeded-up timetable for forced migration to universal credit.

More details here.

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  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    · 4 months ago
    How would the government like it if we all voted to give them vouchers rather than wages!!!
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    · 4 months ago
    The questions the form asks is not a consultation at all, but a lesson in dictatorial questions with even more dictatorial aswers. Cost of implementing must be astronomical, don't forget these people are being paid to make our lives hell.
  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    · 4 months ago
    I have written to my Labour MP who I voted for. I told her of my concerns about pip as she has been on Politics Live supporting those on welfare benefits. That was 10 days ago and as yet no reply. Not even an acknowledgement of my email.
  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    · 4 months ago
    I need my pip money not vouchers that doesn't pay for petrol and taxis to get me about. Why can't them pick on the ones who don't work and can work but don't want too because  they get everything  paid for. So why does the government  have to pick on people  with disabilities 
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      · 4 months ago
      @Tracey Totally agree with you on all accounts.  I receive pip. They do not understand as if they did they wouldn't even be considering changing to vouchers at all. 
  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    · 4 months ago
    It took me ages to get my PIP and I use this benefit towards my bills and keeping a roof over my head. I have to rent privately due to lack of council housing and how the hell am I going to he able to remain in my home if these vouchers don't cover your bills? It makes a mockery out of those who are genuinely ill and suffer.
  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    · 4 months ago
    The plans are ridiculous. How are vouchers going to help people who need assistance with the care component or access to a motability car to get to work or to appointments. It is long overdue that the work capability assessments were over hauled.How can these people in a short interview decide your future better than a GP who has known you for years.They should work together to support people.If people are capable of work they should be supported to find the right career for their capabilities. There are many that would return to working if they were well enough to do so no one likes living this way in constant changing circumstances with financial worries on top of health issues. Don't just follow the scheme the tories started think for yourselves and walk a mile in the shoes of the people who will be forced further into becoming ignored by society. 
  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    · 4 months ago
    Give them the choice
  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    · 4 months ago
    This is ridiculous for people with anxiety, depression and all disabilities who rely on friends and family to get them through there traumas every day , the new government need to see that all disabilities require different needs and vouchers is an I insult, they need to get it sorted and stop causing more stress to us 
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    · 4 months ago
    The answer for TWilliams. What has 'Great Britain' become, the Great British Government money grab, where do they grab it from, people who have genuine disabilities, who are the most vulnerable people in society. They need to find a solution to these people who are working the system for PIP etc and then going out to play golf, tennis etc etc in the afternoon. I say government but it applies to all parties.
  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    · 4 months ago
    My mum was on pip, mobility the lot, because of her condition she was constantly cold so it was invaluable to her, as it enabled her to have heating on all year round. Her condition finally took her life July last year. If she was still around I have no idea how she would have coped. I can’t imagine there would be the ability to pay for her heating in a catalogue………. Plus if the previous Government had not wasted so much money on PPI etc , this would be totally unnecessary 
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      · 4 months ago
      @Andrew Wilson This is the new ppi scam but in a different form. Don't forget they all have major shares in the fuel companies too. Another money for misery scam which they make legal for their own profit.
  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    · 4 months ago
    I've just completed this having given up the first time around.  It's nothing more than trick questions and a cynical attack on disabled and ill people.  They should be ashamed.
  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    · 4 months ago
    I, like others who have posted here, have autism. I also have several asthma, severe reflux, vocal cord dysfunction, arthritis and iron deficiency anaemia. One size does not fit all - and never has! I have to use my PIP money to pay my bills at the moment, with the cost of living being so high. If they take away my PIP money,
    I’m homeless. No if’s - no but’s - I am homeless. That then means I am more of a burden to my local council as they would (hopefully) need to find me emergency accommodation - so, how does that help anyone?! I have worked full time for 35 years and, I believe, paid into a system that should hopefully look after me, whilst I am ill. I would love to go back to work soon. Also, with a voucher scheme, will we have to choose between medication that keeps us alive, or an osteopathic/physio appointment so that we can actually move around? Or get a taxi. It’s ridiculous!
  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    · 4 months ago
    I've been diagnosed physically and mentally disabled since 1997, I have Hydrocephalus, Spina bifida, chronic pain, anxiety/depression to name but a few. To a lot of people I seem quite "normal" - academic, friendly and capable - because of my hidden disabilities. I was offered a job years ago - a shoe shiner in Shoe Zone, before the Jobcentre gave up on me and put me on DLA. Vouchers are of little use to me, but you know what *would* be helpful? Support. Actual, genuine, compassionate, tailored employment support. Years ago I was promised support in setting up my own business, I went from Remploy - who deemed me an "awkward candidate" within earshot (how lovely), to Working Links (useless) to Workstep (great, but all about Access To Work coaching, NOT employment), and finally some other company that I forget the name of, who said they could help me set up my own company. That was years ago, and I'm still waiting. They want me off of PIP? I want my support, and not just tossing into some pre-existing job that I can't do.
  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    · 4 months ago
    Are you an evil government of labour please do not deny Pip independence please keep the payments as cash transfer for our essentials and our survival you're pushers into prostitution destitution and the greater disabilities waji keeps shaming us went over knees is help and our Pip independence kept as cash for essentials on our limited capacity and wca for our safety so we don't become homelessness when we have needs you shameful government of labour.
  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    · 4 months ago
    None of these options are beneficial to me.
    I have had adaptions made and any aids required I already have. What help is there for cab fares to appointments I have to go to, as I don’t drive. Or for mdd we to go visiting.  Also what about those that have a motorbility car using their PIp payment. It’s an absolute nonsense. 
  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    · 4 months ago
    I can't survive on vouchers for services and equipment, I'm maxed out on credit cards, I'm struggling, I've no cooker, i use a microwave oven, toaster, and a kettle, i eat convenience foods, im 66 in September, i have hugh blood pressure, high, cholesterol, type 2 diabetes, blind in one eye, and wesr 2 hearing aids, I take medication for stress, anxiety, self harm, suicidal thoughts, I've pulled out my own teeth, and used a cheese grater to self harm myself, losing my pip will destroy me. 
  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    · 4 months ago
    Please keep the disability Pip independence as cash as we need this for our disabilities to survive this dreadful country we need our food we need our electric gas are clothing to survive please keep pit independence as cash payments for us time dignity and keep the limited capacity for us to survive and the wca and please keep the pip and dependent as cash as we need it for our essentials or you push-up disabilities in to poverty and prostitution and degradation so keep independence cash for our essentials are dependence and are limited capacity and obviously for people who need it for the safety net to Liz Kendell 
  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    · 4 months ago
    What about those with lifelong inherited conditions and congenital conditions? These proposals are ill-considered by those who haven't a clue what it is like to live with such conditions. It sounds like some 'think tank' has been coming up with stupid ideas which meet the wildest fantasies of the Conservatives. 
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      · 4 months ago
      @Michael I have a hereditary form of Alzheimer’s in my 40’s and the current system scored me zero points - when my husband called them (as my appointee) he said that seems a bit brutal. 🙄

      I’ve been a human Guinea pig for a decade and am awaiting the start of a further drug trial extension starting in the last drug trial in the last quarter of this year.

      When I die my brain will be sent to Queen Square Brain Bank so that when I’m dead they can still learn from my very rare form of young onset Alzheimer’s.

      It’s all about standing up for ourselves!
  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    · 4 months ago
    If I get PIP, I'll only be good for cash. Rent, electricity, water, and tax cannot be paid with a voucher. If people get a voucher, they will find a way to convert it to cash. I am sure of that.
  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    · 4 months ago
    As a Disabled person in receipt of pip and with multiple chronic chronic conditions, my needs change on a daily basis and I often need immediate to access to funds. Vouchers are no good to pay a cleaner or gardener dog walker or shopper or even online delivery, taxi's etc This simply wouldn't be acceptable and would impact my life massively. It's a flawed idea which simply would not work for many of us. 

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