Pip - Anxiety and depression

I understand that Mel Stride has a plan to remove the Pip benefit from people with anxiety and depression. There are about 360,000 people claiming Pip with a mental health issue. Some of those will also have physical problems as well. At the same time there are 1.9 million people on the waiting list for mental health therapy! Can you tell me what will happen to someone getting Pip on mental health grounds and over the age of 65? Do they intend those over pension age to work? If so people in that situation may want to apply for attendance allowance - unless Mel Stride wants to do the same with that benefit!

Why is it a political gimmick? They, and quite rightly so, are trying to make sure those who need help get help.

I, personally, would like to see all "back pay" abolished; when someone applies for help they only get it from the point of approval / acceptance. That would save thousands, if not millions, and would leave more in the pot for applications that are approved.

Andrew, someone close to me had his award taken away and it took over two years to get it back through tribunal (and actually increased from what it had been before it was taken away). During the period of not being paid, he went into debt because PIP was a big part of his income (as a disabled person who struggled with work), and he simply couldn't cope. The backpayment he received paid off that debt. Do you really think he didn't deserve that? That he should have just lost those two years for no reason?

Equally, a friend of mine's initial application through no fault of her own took more than eighteen months to be approved. She was just as disabled and in need of help at the start of those eighteen months as when she was approved. Why shouldn't she get the money she was entitled to during that period?

Backpay isn't a gift or reward, it's settling a debt - settling for money owed.