Parliamentary groups representing fluctuating conditions meet to discuss PIP
This week, the All Party Parliamentary Groups (APPG) for MS, Parkinson’s and Crohn’s and Colitis hosted a joint meeting in parliament. We highlighted the problems with Personal Independence Payments (PIP) for people with fluctuating, long term conditions.
As secretariat to the APPG for MS, we spoke up about why PIP assessments don’t work for so many people with MS. We also highlighted the negative impact going through this process can have.
A ‘tick box exercise'
We were joined by Doulla, Phil and Sheila, who are all living with fluctuating conditions. Doulla, who's living with MS, shared her PIP experience with MPs.
“Like many other people with MS my PIP assessment was stressful and came across as a tick-box exercise. My assessor didn’t really understand my MS and how it affects me day to day, especially some of my less visible symptoms.
“It was nice to come to Parliament to share my story and feel listened to by MPs”
Newly appointed chair of the APPG for MS, Charlotte Nichols MP, chaired the discussion. She said: “One of the most common concerns MPs hear from constituents is about PIP. It’s clear something has to change to stop all of the incorrect decisions, and the stress it causes for people living with conditions like MS.”
“We were pleased to have MPs from lots of different parties join to hear from Doulla, Phil and Sheila. We’ll be calling on Ministers to listen and make the changes necessary to the PIP system”
Fill out our PIP and ADP survey
Later this year we’ll be running a UK-wide campaign calling on the UK Government to improve PIP. Ahead of this, we want to hear your experiences.
You can share your experiences of the process of claiming PIP by completing our survey. You can take part if you're over the age of 16, you live in the UK and have MS. It will take around 20 minutes.
We'll use the results of this survey to shape a UK-wide campaign this autumn, calling on the UK Government to improve PIP.
We're also keen to hear from people with MS who have claimed Adult Disability Payment (ADP), which is replacing PIP in Scotland, so we can know more about the specific challenges people face with this benefit.
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