Benefits and Work is asking for readers help to find out whether MPs are being misled about pension age personal independence payment (PIP).
On 25 April we published the news that disability minister Stephen Timms had told MPs in a written parliamentary answer that people over state pension age “will not be affected by the proposed changes” to PIP set out in the Pathways To Work Green Paper.
In that article we expressed our concerns that Timms’ claim left questions unanswered.
Now, having had time to consider, we have concluded that we can find no plausible way that Timms’ statement could be accurate. We need readers with a sympathetic MP to quiz Timms further.
In his written answer to a question about the impact of the Green Paper on pension age PIP claimants Timms said:
“Our intention is that the new eligibility requirement in Personal Independence Payment (PIP), in which people must score a minimum of four points in one daily living activity to be eligible for the daily living component, will apply to new claims and award reviews from November 2026, subject to parliamentary approval. In keeping with existing policy, people over State Pension Age are not routinely fully reviewed and will not be affected by the proposed changes.”
The phrase “not routinely fully reviewed” is deeply ambiguous. It is true that claimants over pension age are likely to have a light-touch review. This involves the shortened AR2 review form and will not normally require the claimant to have a face-to-face or telephone assessment.
But the AR2 form still asks the claimant if there have been any changes in their daily living needs since their last assessment. After November 2026, assuming Labour’s rule changes go through, If the claimant answers “No” to this, and they currently do not score 4 points or higher for any activity, then they are stating that they no longer meet the legal criteria for an award of PIP. This will be the case for around eight out of ten current PIP standard rate daily living component claimants.
In these circumstances the DWP would either have to stop the claimant’s award or require them to attend an assessment to determine if they were eligible, which would include having to establish that they scored at least 4 points for one activity.
There isn’t any way around this that we can see. There is no such thing as a “not full review”, which ignores the basic eligibility criteria for PIP.
Timms could have said that new legislation would exempt pension age claimants from ever being reviewed again – but he didn’t. Currently more than 10,000 pension age PIP claimants have a planned award review every year.
And even if Labour did abolish planned award reviews for this group, pension age PIP claimants would still be affected by the Green Paper.
Because some claimants getting the standard rate of the PIP daily living component will experience an increase in their needs over time and will ask for a change of circumstances review, in the hope of moving onto the enhanced rate.
There are currently around 20,000 pension age PIP change of circumstances reviews a year. After November 2026 these claimants will not only have to prove they score at least 12 daily living points in total to get the enhanced rate, they will also have to show that they score at least 4 points for one activity.
What is more, if they fail to score at least 4 points for one activity, they will lose their current daily living award entirely.
So, pension age PIP claimants will definitely be affected by the Green paper changes. The only way to avoid this would be to say that the new points system regulations will specifically exempt pension age PIP claimants.
But Timms didn’t say that.
We don’t want to alarm pension age PIP claimants. Reviews after pension age are much less frequent, so most claimants may not be affected.
Nonetheless, it appears that tens of thousands a year may be.
So, to try to get to the truth, we need an MP to ask some more questions of the secretary of state for work and pensions. Something along the lines of:
“Will existing PIP claimants of pension age who are subject to a planned award review from November 2026 be required to score at least four points in one daily living activity in order to maintain their award?”
“Will existing PIP claimants of pension age who request a change of circumstances review from November 2026 be required to score at least four points in one daily living activity in order to maintain or increase their award?”
If you have a supportive MP, please ask them to consider raising these issues. It seems important that MPs have the fullest facts possible about the changes being planned, before they are asked to vote on them next month.
