Thousands may be missing out on support

The Mind mental health charity has expressed alarm that thousands of people with mental health problems may be missing out on vital support they should be entitled to.


As a result of recent legal judgements on mental health and mobility, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is currently reviewing more than 1.6 million Personal Independence Payments (PIP) claims to identify people who are entitled to additional financial support.


An original estimate in 2017 said that 14% of claims reviewed would see an increase. 


This estimate was cited multiple times before Parliament and before the courts as part of the government’s arguments regarding the changes. But according to DWP statistics released in July, a mere 0.8% of 440,000 claims reviewed have led to an increased award. 


Mind senior policy and campaigns officer, Ayaz Manji, said the charity was “incredibly alarmed” by the figures, and if the figures were due to an error in the way the numbers were estimated, it was an error of “monumental proportions”. 


He said: “Personal Independence Payments are vital to the welfare and independence of so many disabled people, but we know that many people are missing out on the payments they so desperately need to live well.”


He added that Mind wants an independent investigation “to understand what has gone wrong here and what action the Department for Work and Pensions needs to take to fix it”.

https://www.mind.org.uk/news-campaigns/news/mind-calls-for-review-as-data-shows-thousands-at-risk-of-missing-out-on-pip