Plans to reform the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) could result in Personal Independence Payments (PIP), worth up to £737.20 every four weeks, being halted for over one million individuals with mental health conditions. These payments might be replaced by talking therapies under proposed UK Government welfare reforms.

The scale of the changes to PIP shocked disability charity Scope, while the Resolution Foundation warned that the significant reform would also impact those with physical disabilities. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak pointed out on Friday that current spending on benefits for working-age individuals with a disability or health condition is £69 billion - "more than our entire schools budget; more than our transport budget; more than our policing".

Sunak added that if no amendments are made, anticipated PIP spending will increase by over 50 per cent in the next four years. Close to 3.5 million people across Great Britain, including nearly 219,000 claimants residing in Scotland, currently receive PIP - with 37 per cent (or 1.3m) of these claiming for psychiatric disorders such as stress, anxiety, and depression.

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PIP provides additional financial assistance for adults who require help completing everyday tasks or moving around due to a disability, long-term illness, or physical or mental health condition, reports the Daily Record.

Number of PIP claimants across Great Britain

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has released figures showing the number of people receiving Personal Independence Payment (PIP) as of January 2024.

Following the annual uprating earlier this month, a successful claim for PIP or Adult Disability Payment (ADP) for those living in Scotland, now provides between £28.70 and £184.30 each week in additional financial support. As the benefit is paid every four weeks, this amounts to between £114.80 and £737.20 every payment period.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak expressed concerns about potential misuse of this system. He argued that there's a need to "look again" at the PIP benefit, citing that since 2019, the number of people claiming PIP due to anxiety or depression as their main condition has doubled. He added that it's "not clear they have the same degree of increased living costs as those with physical conditions".

In the coming days, a consultation on PIP will be published which will explore changes to the eligibility criteria, assessment process and types of support that can be offered. The aim is to better target the system towards individual needs and more closely link it to a person's condition rather than the current "one size fits all" approach.

The Prime Minister outlined his goal to reform the disability benefits system, striving for a fair, compassionate system that is also sustainable and future-ready. The consultation aims to explore whether alternative supports - such as treatments or service access - might yield better long-term results, especially for individuals whose health conditions are less severe or properly managed.

Moreover, it will examine if individuals with mental health problems should receive talking therapies or respite care instead of financial support through disability benefits. His full speech can be viewed on the official Downing Street YouTube channel.

Number of people claiming PIP for Psychiatric disorders

The most recent DWP statistics reveal that at the end of January 2024, several individuals were receiving PIP for conditions categorised as 'Psychiatric disorders'. Work and Pensions Secretary Mel Stride voiced: "I believe our welfare system is about far more than benefit payments; it is about changing lives for the better.

"That is why we're bringing forward the next generation of welfare reforms. We've already overhauled the outdated benefit system by introducing Universal Credit, and now we are building a new welfare settlement for Britain - one where no one gets left behind. The welfare reforms announced by the Prime Minister today will modernise the support available for those who need it the most, improve the value of the welfare system for taxpayers, and ensure that people are signed up to support back to work, not signed off."

Scope's director of strategy, James Taylor, slammed the Government's proposals as a "horrific" move to "slash disabled people's income by hitting PIP" amidst a cost of living crisis. The Resolution Foundation think tank highlighted that the most significant announcement in Mr Sunak's speech was the consultation on Personal Independence Payment (PIP).

However, while acknowledging the inevitability of reform due to increased spending over time, the think tank criticised Mr Sunak for presenting a "problem statement rather than a plan".

The organisation commented: "While the speech set out the problem rising ill-health is creating for the Treasury, it did not offer a plan for addressing it, nor address any of the many difficulties involved in doing so."

It further pointed out that while the Prime Minister argued for reform based on increasing claims from people with mental ill-health, such major reforms would affect those with physical disabilities as well.

The foundation emphasised that disability reforms concern both family and public finances, noting that people with disabilities "are among the poorest in society, with one in three adults in the poorest tenth of the population having a disability".

Louise Murphy, senior economist at the Resolution Foundation, commented: "Rising economic inactivity, and especially rising inactivity due to long-term sickness, is one of the biggest economic challenges Britain faces in the 2020s."

She continued: "Not only is it reducing employment and growth, and increasing public spending, it is harming the living standards of those who are too ill to work."

Murphy also added: "But the Prime Minister today has set out a problem statement rather than a plan, particularly when it comes to proposals to overhaul our main disability benefit."

She concluded by saying: "This may reflect the very challenging nature of disability benefit reforms. But whoever wins the next election will need to go beyond rhetoric and consultations if they're to stem the rising benefit bills and help more people into work."