I am pleased to make this statement in relation to the Timms Review of Personal Independence Payment (PIP).

The Government has today published the Interim Report on behalf of the steering group for the Timms Review. The Report is available on GOV.UK and copies will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.

The Government launched the Timms Review to help ensure PIP is fair and fit for the future in a changing world and helps support disabled people to achieve better health, higher living standards and greater independence including through employment. The Terms of Reference set out that the Review must operate within the Office for Budget Responsibility’s projections for future PIP expenditure to ensure it is there to support generations to come.

The Review is being co-produced with disabled people and other experts. The Review is led by me and two co-chairs, Sharon Brennan and Dr Clenton Farquharson CBE, to whom I am very grateful, and a steering group of 12 people, almost all disabled people, who together are bringing their expertise and experience to shape and lead the work. This is the first time the UK Government has undertaken co-production at this scale, and I am grateful for the commitment and passion of this group.

No single group can be representative of the full diversity of disabled people’s experiences. That is why the steering group has set up a wide range of evidence-gathering and engagement opportunities, to provide varied, accessible options for people with differing lived and learned experiences to get involved, and to ensure that the group can hear from as many different perspectives as possible.

The publication of the Interim Report today marks a significant milestone for the Review and reflects its commitment to openness and transparency. The Report has been published on GOV.UK in a range of accessible versions including braille, British Sign Language, audio, Easy Read, Welsh, Large Print and web-accessible formats.

The Report does not contain recommendations or government policy; it provides an account of the work of the Review to date and explains how the Review is being co-produced with people with lived and learned experience. It sets out the evidence considered so far and presents the Review’s emerging themes. It also outlines next steps for the Review including how, over the coming months, it will continue its evidence and engagement programme to test emerging thinking and develop recommendations that reflect the steering group’s ambitions for radical reform, and are credible, deliverable and grounded in lived and learned experience.

The Report delivers a clear message from the steering group, based on the evidence it has seen and heard so far: while PIP is widely valued as a benefit, it is no longer fit for purpose.

The Report explains that PIP is often described as fundamental to managing the practical realities of a disability, from enabling access to transport and work, to supporting everyday activities. However, the experience of claiming PIP is often described as stressful and dehumanising. For some people, the current design and delivery of PIP can create barriers to participation, including work, community life and everyday activities, rather than supporting independence and participation as intended.

The Report is published alongside the findings from the Call for Evidence which received over 38,000 responses from disabled people, organisations that represent them, carers, clinicians, experts, Members of Parliament and other stakeholders. An existing evidence pack compiled by the DWP, which was provided to the steering group as a starting point for further evidence gathering, is also published. Neither of these are meant to act as a single source of the truth but are shared as part of the Review’s commitment to openness and transparency.

As well as sincere thanks to the steering group for their commitment to this work, I would also like to thank everyone who has contributed their time, evidence and experience to the Review so far. The Review remains committed to ensuring disabled people’s voices are central to this work as it looks ahead to developing, testing and refining its final recommendations which are to be submitted to the Secretary of State in the autumn.

I look forward to updating the House on the progress of this crucial work.

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