Received from Inclusion Scotland
Change in Assessment Criteria:
In December 2012 the UK Government announced an unexpected change in the PIP Assessment criteria. This change reduces the distance someone can walk (safely) before qualifying for the Enhanced Mobility element of PIP from 50 metres to 20 metres (the Enhanced Mobility element of PIP is equivalent to the Higher Rate Mobility Component of DLA).
The change has contributed to a substantial increase in the numbers expected not to qualify for the Enhanced Mobility element of PIP – up from 250,000 to 428,000 (a 70% increase).
Using the DWP’s own UK-wide projections of expected “winners” and “losers” arising from the replacement of DLA by PIP Inclusion Scotland have now calculated the equivalent figures for Scotland. These are set out below.
One piece of good news is that the majority of disabled people on life-time or long term awards of DLA will not now be re-assessed for PIP until after October 2015. However the following groups will be assessed before then -
* disabled people making new claims
* people currently in receipt of DLA whose awards end before Oct. 2015
* people whose condition/level of impairment changes before then to a level where it amounts to a change of circumstances requiring reassessment.
Mobility Component:
Using DWP projections, by 2018, Inclusion Scotland estimates that over 80,000 working age disabled people in Scotland will lose either some or all of the mobility allowance that they would otherwise have been entitled to:
* 47,000 will lose higher/enhanced rate mobility allowance. The subsequent loss in income to disabled people in Scotland will be at least £135 million a year by 2018.
* 34,100 will lose standard rate mobility allowance. The subsequent loss in income to disabled people in Scotland will be at least £37 million a year by 2018.
As one in three current Higher Rate DLA Mobility component recipients currently use their benefit to lease Motability vehicles as many as 16,000 disabled people in Scotland may also lose their Motability cars and scooters.
Care component: In addition because of the introduction of PIP -
* 30,250 fewer disabled people in Scotland will receive Standard Daily Living (PIP)/Middle Rate Care(DLA). The subsequent loss in income to disabled people in Scotland will be at least £83.4 million p.a. by 2018
* 74,000 disabled people in Scotland who would otherwise have been entitled to Lower Rate Care (DLA) will no longer receive it because it will no longer exist. The subsequent loss in income to disabled people in Scotland will be at least £80.8 million a year by 2018
* Conversely an additional 15,500 more disabled people will qualify for the Enhanced Daily Living Element of PIP than would have qualified for the old Higher Rate Care of DLA. The subsequent increase in income available to disabled people will be approx. £64million a year by 2018.
However overall nearly 90,000 fewer disabled people in Scotland will qualify for assistance with their care needs/daily living costs than would otherwise have been entitled to under current DLA entitlement rules.
Total Losses: Ignoring attendant losses of Income Support premiums, Housing Benefit disregards, carers allowance, etc. the total loss in the income of Scots disabled people which will arise from the change from DLA to PIP will therefore be approx. £272 million per annum by 2018 i.e. the overall total in lost income (£336.2 million) minus the increase in income (£64 million)
Sources:
1. Personal Independence Payment: Reassessment and Impacts, DWP, Dec. 2012 http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/pip-reassessments-and-impacts.pdf and
2. Emergency Stop: The hidden economic and social cost of welfare reform, We are Spartacus, January 2013 http://wearespartacus.org.uk/wpcontent/uploads/2013/01/Emergency-Stop-final.pdf
3. DWP Tabulation Tool (http://83.244.183.180/100pc/dla/tabtool_dla.html ) used to estimate the numbers of disabled people in Scotland likely to be affected by the introduction of PIP as a proportion of estimated losers at a UK level. Feb 2012 DLA Caseload used as a baseline.
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Tags: benefits, carerwatch, cumulative impact assessment, disability living allowance, employment support allowance, hardest hit, inclusion scotland, mobility, personal independence payment, universal credit, welfare reform, work capability assessment
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