Overview
- The Department for Work and Pensions says new assessment rules will apply to roughly four million Personal Independence Payment claimants, a UK benefit that helps with daily living and mobility costs.
- New awards will be reviewed at least every three years and, if entitlement continues at the next check, will move to five‑year review cycles to cut repeat reassessments.
- The share of face‑to‑face assessments will rise from 6% in 2024 to 30%, a shift disability groups warn can be physically and emotionally taxing and, for some, humiliating.
- A Digital Self‑Serve application, now live in test areas, is delivering initial decisions about 20 days faster and saw a 7% rise in successful awards during its first 19 weeks.
- The Timms Review is taking evidence until May 28 before reporting in autumn 2026, with officials citing that about 60–63% of planned reviews make no change and projecting £1.9 billion in savings by 2030/31.