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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Politics
Dan Bloom

DWP: Disabled people will face fewer tests for benefits in Tory manifesto vow

The Tories today agreed to put disabled people through fewer tests to prove they deserve benefits if Boris Johnson wins the general election.

The party's manifesto announced the minimum award for Personal Independence Payment (PIP) will double from 9 to 18 months before people have to face a reassessment.

The pledge, after years of complaints about people being forced through dehumanising, humiliating assessments, is set to cost £75million a year in 2020/21 if the Tories get into government.

Its cost will rise to £80million a year by 2023/24.

The manifesto boasts the move is "part of our efforts to empower and support disabled people" - as the Tories also finally end the freeze on working-age benefits.

Disabled people will have more time before they are reassessed for benefits (Rex Features)
The manifesto boasts the move is "part of our efforts to empower and support disabled people" (Dan Kitwood)

But it stops short of committing to any new action to help people on Universal Credit , saying only "we will do more to make sure" it works.

And the manifesto does not commit to cutting the five-week wait for the first payment in UC, despite the standard period driving people to foodbanks.

By comparison, Labour has vowed to scrap UC and stop the "dehumanising" PIP assessments altogether.

The Tory manifesto says: "As part of our efforts to empower and support disabled people, we will reduce the number of reassessments a disabled person must go through when a significant change in condition is unlikely.

But it stops short of committing to any new action to help people on Universal Credit (Dan Kitwood)

"Because you should not have to provide repeated proof of your disability in order to receive support."

It comes after former Work and Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd - who later resigned the Tory whip and stood down as an MP - said disabled pensioners would no longer have their PIP awards regularly reviewed.

She also vowed to improve the system so fewer PIP assessments are overturned by a tribunal.

Around three-quarters of tribunals for people who were denied PIP currently rule against the DWP - tens of thousands.

DWP chiefs say internal appeals, known as mandatory reconsiderations, are being tightened up to gather more evidence and resolve problems before they come to tribunal.

But waiting times have also exploded as cases clog the system, with the average MR taking 69 days - up from 32.

Labour's Shadow Minister for Disabled People Marsha De Cordova said: "Thousands of disabled people have been driven to despair and destitution as a result of this flawed system.

"Rather than admitting that PIP assessments are unfit for purpose, Boris Johnson has had the gall to sneak this change into his manifesto.

"Labour is clear that it will scrap this cruel and callous assessment regime and replace it with a system that treats disabled people with respect."

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