A new online petition has been created calling on the UK Government to conduct a full review into the way the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) administers Personal Independence Payment (PIP), specifically the role independent assessors play in the application process. It is the second petition in a matter of days to raise concerns over assessments, going as far as to call them “inhumane and degrading”.
Both of these petitions raise awareness and concerns on behalf of concerned disabled people across the UK in the hopes of affecting positive change. However, they rely on members of the public supporting their campaign to reach significant thresholds which can either trigger an official response from the UK Government (10,000 signatures) or have it considered for debate in Parliament (100,000).
It’s worth noting that the Disability News Service, run by John Pring, a disabled journalist who has been reporting on disability issues for nearly 25 years, have been campaigning strongly against these assessments for more than 12 years.
The ‘Full review of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) application process’ was created and shared on the official petitions-parliament website by Keely, a disability advocate who uses TikTok to raise awareness to more than 12,000 followers.
The campaigner told the Daily Record: “I am a disability advocate being disabled myself and am trying to spread awareness of disability discrimination and hate crimes.
“I am taking a stand against the DWP because of the whole PIP process, not just the medical evidence and assessments.”
In just a few days, the petition has received nearly 3,000 signatures (at time of writing), just a few thousand away from triggering an official response.
Keely wrote: “We want the [UK] Government to conduct a full review of the PIP process. This should look at DWP policy and the performance of ATOS and Capita, which conduct the health assessments for applicants.
“We believe the current process is inherently unethical and biased, and needs a complete overhaul.”
The disability campaigner continued: “We believe that the Personal Independence Payment application and assessment process is inhumane and degrading.
“We believe Capita and Atos are not fit for purpose to be contracted as independent assessors, and that this leads to many people being unfairly denied benefits.”
She added: “This demonstrates that many decisions are initially incorrect. We believe that too often medical evidence is ignored, and decisions are not made fairly.”
The petition will remain open until February 1, 2023 - you can read the full details on the petitions-parliament website, here.
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