Disabled claimants with lifelong conditions should no longer face “unnecessary” reassessments for benefits, a landmark review into the future of personal independence payments (PIP) is set to say.

Other measures likely to be suggested by the review include fast-tracking assessments for claimants with serious conditions, making it more straightforward to access PIP and ensuring it is not means-tested.

It means anyone with severe, lifelong disabilities such as Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s are likely to be shielded from any future cuts to PIP under Andy Burnham’s wider reforms to the welfare system.

It is understood that the current PIP questionnaire is set to be scrapped and replaced with a new process with an initial assessment followed by different pathways for people depending on their condition and how it affects their daily life.

The long-awaited Timms review into the future of PIP – which helps people cover extra costs caused by their condition – has published a series of “emerging recommendations” ahead of its final report, which is due later this year.

While it stresses that these recommendations are not final, they give an indication of what the review, carried out with the input of disabled people and groups, is likely to say.

Cash should ‘remain the foundation of the award’

The early recommendations suggest retaining PIP as primarily a cash payment – but some awards may also include services and offer other non-cash support such as therapy or physio, as revealed by The i Paper in July.

The review by minister Sir Stephen Timms was commissioned to evaluate the PIP system after Sir Keir Starmer’s botched welfare reforms last summer, and concluded in its interim report that the disability benefit “dehumanises” people and requires a “radical” overhaul.

The latest publication comes as Burnham faces pressure to outline how he will make significant savings to the welfare bill after telling the House of Commons he would not fund defence at the “expense of social security”.

“Having strong national security also depends upon having resilience in our communities,” he said when asked by Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch how he will reach the target of spending 3 per cent of GDP on defence by 2030.

The Prime Minister’s spokesperson later said he is “committed to bringing the overall bill down in a sustainable way”, with measures to “help more people into work, tackle the root causes of long-term inactivity, and ensure support is matched with opportunity and expectation”.

Appearing to align with this direction of travel, the Timms group said cash should “remain the foundation of the award”, but that the new system should be geared towards helping people with what they can do – rather than defining support based on what they cannot do.

These categories could include “equipment and aids; mobility and transport; clothing and bedding”, the report states.

This latest update does not give any hint of how the rising PIP bill for mental health claims could be reduced.

Fewer assessments would ‘reduce anixety’

Under the current system, claimants are awarded points based on how much difficulty they have with everyday tasks, such as washing or dressing. The cash benefit is then determined based on whether their ability to carry out the task is limited, meaning they get the standard rate, or severely limited, meaning they can access the enhanced rate.

The i Paper has previously revealed that former PIP assessors say the system is “horrific” and “target-driven”, leaving claimants with rushed assessments and an anxiety-inducing reassessment process.

The review is now proposing that people with lifelong or degenerative conditions should not have “unnecessary award reviews”. This could include conditions such as Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s.

Reducing reassessments for people with no realistic expectation of their condition improving would “reduce anxiety” around accessing cash benefits, according to the interim proposals.

The group also suggested that PIP applications should be simplified with a “light-touch initial assessment” to begin to understand an individual’s needs, before directing them towards the most appropriate assessment pathway.

There should be different types of assessment for different people, such as a “fast-track pathway” for those with well-evidenced, serious conditions, including those receiving end-of-life care, the document states.

It adds that new and improved assessments should be designed to better account for people with conditions that fluctuate over time, and that those with especially complicated circumstances could have a more detailed face-to-face review.

Fluctuating conditions could include multiple sclerosis, cystic fibrosis or mental health issues where an individual is able to work at some times but not others.

A ‘Tell Us Once’ approach

The changes are intended to ensure claimants no longer need to become experts in the system themselves while attempting to get support, the Timms group has said.

It proposed that PIP assessors – with claimants’ permission – should have access to their medical records from the NHS, and any relevant information from social care or the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).

This would be under a new “Tell Us Once” approach, meaning claimants would not have to keep explaining the same things over and over again.

The group said a “wide range” of supporting evidence for claims should be accepted, including reports by mental health professionals or social workers, as well as testimonies from family members, carers and friends.

The review asked the DWP to be more “respectful” when communicating with people, so that the process is clearer and easier to understand.

The Timms group recommended that cash should remain the “foundation” of PIP, but added that some awards will include services and “other non-cash support”.

However, it also states that these are not “our final recommendations”.

“They are a starting point that we now want people to test, challenge and help us to improve,” the authors said.