13th December 2012: Lord Freud, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Welfare Reform) at the Department for Work and Pensions) made an important statement in the Lords on the Government’s program of welfare reform, especially on the introduction of the Personal Independence Payment (PIP) as a replacement for Disability Living Allowance (DLA).
His statement began with the words “The Government are committed to enabling disabled people to fulfil their potential and play a full role in society. Crucial to that is the reform of disability living allowance, a lifeline for many but which is simply not working in its current form.”
He continued: “Today we are publishing the Government’s consultation responses on the draft assessment criteria and on the detailed design of PIP. Alongside that, I will be laying in draft before Parliament the main PIP regulations, setting out the PIP entitlement conditions, assessment criteria and payment rates. We will also publish in draft what the transitional arrangements might look like. The main scheme regulations are subject to the affirmative procedure and I look forward to debating them in full early next year.”
He added: “The most important thing I want to announce today is that we have listened and acted on the huge amount of consultation we have had with disabled people and disability groups. We have made specific key changes as a result of our engagement. These are outlined in full in our consultation responses…”
The Minister’s speech may be read in full here.
The Personal Independence Payment Regulations 2013, which the Minister referred to in his statement, and which the Government laid before Parliament on the same day, may be found here on the DWP website .
Rescare will report reaction to the statement and the proposals as it emerges.