Additional Costs Disability Payment
An alternative to PIP, co-produced by Experts by Experience
The Commission on Social Security – a group made up entirely of people with lived experience of the social security system – has published detailed proposals for a new Additional Costs Disability Payment, designed to replace Personal Independence Payment (PIP).
The proposal comes after the government’s U-turn on its Universal Credit and PIP reform bill, which initially proposed major changes to disability benefits. The Commission warns that this chaos is the inevitable result of trying to design policy without the people directly affected.
The government has since committed that the forthcoming Timms Review of Personal Independence Payment will be co-produced with disabled people.
The Commission’s new proposal, which draws from insights from more than 5,000 contributions, provides a blueprint for how co-production can be done well, rather than as lip service.
Developed by “experts by experience”, it offers a constructive, workable alternative to a system that is currently deeply flawed.
PIP was created to help disabled people cover the additional costs of disability. But in practice it puts people through stressful assessments, is plagued by inaccurate decisions and a culture of mistrust, and too often leaves claimants fighting for support. Rather than enabling participation in work and society, the system actively undermines it.
If enacted, the Commission’s proposal – launched at an event on 15 September – would:
Ensure payments cover the real additional costs of disability and long-term health conditions.
Replace stressful points-based assessments with a process rooted in the Social Model of Disability.
Guarantee that decisions are made with disabled people, not imposed on them.
Provide advocacy and support throughout the process.
Genuine co-production is vital to ensure the Timms Review puts forward reforms that make things better, not worse, and to rebuild trust with disabled people. The Commission’s Additional Costs Disability Payment shows how this can be achieved.
Rosa Morris, Commission on Social Security Project Worker, said:
“We're incredibly proud of this proposal, which has benefitted from over 5,000 people’s insights and contributions during our consultation earlier this year. It demonstrates that co-production of social security policy is possible.
“The upcoming Timms Review and wider government must listen to calls from disabled people and their organisations and commit to genuine co-production.
“For disabled people, we hope this proposal offers new hope, and something positive to campaign for, after 15 years of brutal cuts and determined resistance.”
Jané Mackenzie, social security lead at Trust for London, said:
“We’re proud to support work that is led by and for disabled people, drawing on their lived experience of the social security system. Our social security system should protect us all when we need it most, enabling everyone to live with dignity and providing a route out of poverty. It is more important than ever that we listen to disabled people’s voices, and this project shows the power of genuine co-production in shaping solutions that work.”