What is the Timms Review?
The government is currently reviewing Personal Independence Payment (PIP) – the benefit that helps cover the extra costs of living with a disability or long-term health condition. The review is being led by Sir Stephen Timms, Minister for Social Security and Disability, and is gathering evidence from disabled people, the organisations that represent them, clinicians, and other experts.
The review is looking at four main themes:
1. What PIP is for – Is PIP fulfilling its intended purpose?
2. Fairness and eligibility – Does the assessment process fairly capture the impact of long-term conditions?
3. The claims experience – What is it actually like to apply for PIP or be reassessed?
4. PIP in a changing world – How has the world changed since PIP was introduced in 2013, and does PIP need to change with it?
The review closes on 28 May 2026.
Why is UP responding?
UP is the only UK charity focused exclusively on adults with cerebral palsy. We represent 130,000 adults – the largest group in the UK living with a lifelong condition – and we want to make sure their voices are heard in this review.
Cerebral palsy is a lifelong condition. It does not go away, and for many people its impacts become more significant with age. Adults with CP are precisely the community PIP was designed for – people with genuine, ongoing extra costs, whose ability to live independently, work, and participate in society depends on that support.
We have real concerns about the current system. The assessment process does not always reflect the reality of living with a lifelong condition. Repeated reassessments cause unnecessary stress and anxiety. And the amounts awarded do not always keep pace with the actual costs of living with CP.
We also want to engage with some of the bigger changes being proposed – in particular, the plan to make PIP the single gateway to a wider range of disability benefits, replacing the separate Work Capability Assessment. This is a significant change and our community deserves a say in how it works.
What will happen with your answers?
Your survey responses will be used in two ways.
First, they will feed into UP’s own organisational submission to the Timms Review. Your answers will be anonymised – we will present themes, patterns and illustrative quotes, but nothing that identifies you personally, unless you give us explicit permission.
Second, we are planning to print and deliver a bundle of individual community responses directly to the Department for Work and Pensions. This is a powerful way to show the government the scale of feeling in our community. If you’d like your response to be included in this bundle, under your name, you can give your consent at the end of the survey. If you prefer to remain anonymous, your answers will still make a difference as part of our collective submission.
Your survey responses will also help shape our focus group discussion, where a smaller group of advocates will go deeper into the issues that matter most.
PIP components
PIP has two components:
Daily Living – this covers the extra costs of everyday tasks such as preparing food, washing and dressing, managing medication, and communicating with others. It can be awarded at standard or enhanced rate.
Mobility – this covers the extra costs of getting around, including planning and following journeys. It can also be awarded at standard or enhanced rate.
You can be awarded one or both components. PIP is not means-tested, which means it is available whether or not you are in work.
The gateway change
One of the most significant changes being proposed as part of this review is that the PIP assessment will become the single gateway to a range of health-related and disability benefits. Currently, eligibility for benefits such as the health element of Universal Credit is assessed separately through the Work Capability Assessment. The government plans to scrap the Work Capability Assessment and use PIP as the sole assessment instead.
This means that the outcome of a single PIP assessment could determine access to multiple forms of support. The survey asks for your views on whether this approach is fair, and whether the current PIP assessment is adequate for this broader role.
Ready to take the survey?
Once you’ve read this page, please go to https://form.jotform.com/261202558146049 to share your experience. The survey closes on Monday 11 May 2026 and should take around 15–20 minutes.
Thank you. Your voice matters.