Scottish Government to review Adult Disability Payment (ADP) this year

In 2022, the Scottish Government will review the mobility component of the ADP, Scotland’s replacement for PIP.

The review of the ‘Moving Around’ component will include deciding whether to keep the 20 metre rule as part of the assessment criteria.

Under this rule, if you can walk just one step over 20 metres (roughly the length of two double-decker buses), the Scottish Government says you don’t need the higher rate of mobility support.

Thanks to you, the review is happening a year earlier than originally planned. The announcement followed our public campaign, which was supported by thousands of people in Scotland living with MS.

Speaking out about the 20 metre rule

Last year, more than 3,000 people signed our petition calling for the 20 metre rule to be scrapped from ADP.

As part of this campaign, we’ve urged the government to carry out their review of ADP sooner than 2023. Because we believe change needs to be made to ADP assessment now, not in several years’ time.

The rule was introduced in 2013. Since then, people with MS have told us it’s an unfair and inadequate way of measuring mobility. And we’ve been campaigning to have the rule removed ever since.

Now the Scottish Government is replacing PIP with ADP, we believe the government has a chance to remove the senseless 20 metre rule.

Making our voices heard

The MS community and the MS Society have been one of the most vocal groups in speaking out against the rule. During a debate in Scottish Parliament, MSPs from across parliament mentioned our campaign, highlighting the unfairness of that method of assessment.

Throughout our campaign we’ve met with 37 MSPs from all political parties. And we have cross party support for our position. We’ve also met with the Scottish Minister for Social Security and Local Government, Ben Macpherson, five times. As well as with the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Housing and Local Government, Shona Robison.

The Minister for Social Security and Local Government commented on the review being brought forward a year. He said this is because of feedback from organisations and members of the public about the 20 metre rule.

Our petition has been discussed twice by the Citizens Participation and Public Petitions Committee. And our Policy, Public Affairs and Campaigns Manager, Keith Park, gave evidence on ADP and the 20 metre rule to the Social Justice and Social Security Committee in December 2021.

While they haven’t scrapped the 20 metre rule, we can still persuade them to make this change in the near future. Our campaign has forced the Scottish Government to change its position on the review of the Moving Around component. This is a big achievement and we couldn’t have done it without you.

What’s next?

The decision to bring the review of the Moving Around component forward from 2023 to 2022 is good news. But there’s still a lot of work to be done. Once again we’re asking for your help. The next step is to influence the review to highlight how unfair the 20 metre rule is. And to convince the Scottish Government to scrap it. To do this, we’ll need your continued support.

We want to hear from you

During the review process we’ll continue talking to people with MS. And we’ll share evidence that the 20 metre rule is failing people with fluctuating conditions. If you’ve been affected by the 20 metre rule and would like to share your experiences, we want to hear from you. Get in touch with us on [email protected]

Stay up to date

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