PIP reassessments: If nothing is going to change, why keep asking people to prove it?
People with a learning disability A learning disability is to do with the way someone's brain works. It makes it harder for someone to learn, understand or do things. have it for life and it doesn't fluctuate. A learning disability is not a learning difficulty or a mental health condition.
Reassessment is entirely unnecessary for us. It wastes government money.
When people with a learning disability are reassessed, 9 in 10 people who receive the daily living part of PIP get the same outcome as before.
Having to prove our disability time and time again takes away our dignity Dignity means you treat yourself and others well and with respect. . It causes us huge amounts of stress. The Timms Review into PIP has recognised that. It’s time the government The Government are the people who run the country. They decide how much tax people should pay for things and how things like the National Health Service should work. does too.
We want an end to unnecessary PIP reassessments for people with a learning disability. It’s just common sense.
My son will not 'recover' from his learning disability. He will always need the level of support he needs now.
PIP reassessments: Take action
Co-sign our letter, calling on the Department for Work and Pensions The Department for Work and Pensions is sometimes called the DWP. It is part of the government and manages payments and benefits like Universal Credit, Personal Independence Payment, Employment and Support Allowance, and Income Support. to end unnecessary PIP reassessments for people with a learning disability.
Add your name to say you don’t think people with a learning disability should have to repeatedly be asked to prove something that cannot, and will not, ever change.
Our policy and research
We’ve produced two reports. One shows that the Government's own data shows that reassessing people with a learning disability rarely leads to a different result.
In other words, most people go through the PIP process only to end up with the same benefits they had before.
That's a lot of stress for individuals and a lot of unnecessary administration for the DWP DWP stands for the government Department for Work and Pensions. .
"It's repeating what has already been done and is a waste of time for everyone."
To take part in the Timms Review into PIP, we held 10 workshops with people with a learning disability across the country. We asked questions about PIP, what they thought, and how they felt about it. You can read our findings from these workshops.
The human impact
Behind every reassessment is a person or family being asked to explain the same support needs all over again.
The Personal Independence Payment
Personal Independence Payment (PIP) is the name of a benefit that some people with a disability or health condition get. The money is to pay for extra help you might need to look after yourself and to get around. Some people who used to get Disability Living Allowance (DLA) now get PIP instead. reassessment process is exhausting, degrading and soul-destroying.
Makes you feel like you are on trial.
Needing to prove everything all the time... looking back, it's kind of a low level of trauma.
DWP assessments give me so much anxiety. I can't sleep before. If they misunderstand me, I lose my money. Money I need for my food and life.
By Mencap
Personal
Independence
Independence means doing things on your own. Making your own choices.
Payment, or PIP, is a benefit that helps with the extra costs of living with a disability or long-term health condition.
PIP is based on how someone’s disability or condition affects their everyday life and mobility.
If you already get PIP, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) may review your award to check whether you should continue to receive PIP and how much you should get.
This can mean being asked for information about your disability and support needs again, even when these have not changed.
A learning disability is lifelong. Yet many people with a learning disability are repeatedly asked to prove how their disability affects them.
Our research Research is a way of finding out information which could come from books, or asking people what they think. shows that when people with a learning disability who receive the daily living part of PIP are reassessed, 9 in 10 receive the same outcome as before.
We think putting people through unnecessary reassessments causes stress, takes away people’s dignity and creates unnecessary work for the DWP.
We want a system based on common sense, where people aren't repeatedly asked to prove something that cannot and will not change.
Not yet.
The Timms Review into PIP is currently considering how the benefit could be improved. In September 2026, the Review published its emerging recommendations. One of these is to reduce unnecessary award reviews for people with lifelong or degenerative conditions where no improvement is expected. These are emerging recommendations, not final changes to the PIP system. See the governments September 2026 Timms Review document.
This is an important step, but we want to make sure it leads to meaningful change for people with a learning disability.
That’s why we’re asking people to add their name and call on the Government to end unnecessary PIP reassessments.
We don't know yet.
The recommendation to reduce unnecessary reviews is still being developed as part of the Timms Review. The Review has said that its emerging recommendations are not its final recommendations and are being tested and refined with disabled people and other
organisations
Organisations are groups like companies and businesses.
. See The Timms Review: co-chair update, September 2026 on thegovernments
website
A website is a page you can go to on the internet like Google or YouTube.
Until changes are formally announced and introduced by the Government, people should continue to respond to any PIP review or reassessment they are asked to complete.
No. We are calling for an end to unnecessary reassessments for people with a learning disability.
A learning disability is lifelong. We don't think people should repeatedly have to prove that they still have a learning disability when this cannot change.
This does not mean someone's circumstances or support needs can never change. People should still be able to tell the DWP if their circumstances change or if they need their PIP award to be looked at again.
The Timms Review is a Government review of PIP. It is looking at what needs to change and how PIP could work better for disabled people and people with long-term health conditions.
The Review has heard that the current PIP assessment and decision-making process can be stressful and dehumanising. Its emerging recommendations include reducing unnecessary award reviews for people with lifelong conditions where their condition is not expected to improve. Visit the government website for more details and read about the emerging recommendations.
Mencap has contributed to the Review by listening to people with a learning disability and sharing their experiences of PIP.
Adding your name helps show the Government that people want change.
Together, we can send a clear message: a learning disability is lifelong. People shouldn't have to keep proving it.
By co-signing our letter, you're helping us call on the DWP to end unnecessary PIP reassessments for people with a learning disability.