Have your say: Timms Review announces wider engagement programme for disabled people

The UK Government’s independent review of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) has announced a wider programme of evidence-gathering and public engagement.

The Timms Review is exploring how PIP supports disabled people and how the benefit system could work better in the future. As part of this next phase, disabled people, carers, Disabled People’s Organisations, clinicians, researchers and other experts are invited to share their experiences and evidence in a range of different ways.

In March, the Review launched a public Call for Evidence seeking views and experiences relating to PIP. Action for ME prepared a response then, and is continuing to develop its organisational response to help ensure the experiences and needs of people with ME are represented.

We encourage people affected by ME, where possible, to submit evidence to the Timms review.

This latest announcement confirms the Review will now expand its engagement programme through a number of additional activities, including:

• “Workshop in a box” resource kits for organisations and elected representatives to run local engagement sessions within their communities, capturing insights from people with lived experience across the UK.
• Evidence sessions with experts, including people with lived experience and relevant professionals, allowing deeper engagement on specific topics and potential solutions.
• Deliberative events across the UK later this year to test ideas and explore recommendations.
• Use of existing research and data from the disability sector, government and independent experts.
• New quantitative survey research, commissioned with the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen), to fill gaps in the current evidence base around independent living and how PIP acts a gateway to other support.

The Review has also shared that it expects to begin receiving early findings from its evidence and engagement programme over the summer, before moving into a period of testing and refining recommendations in the autumn.

For many people with ME, PIP plays a vital role in supporting independence and access to daily living support. We also know that engaging with consultations and evidence-gathering exercises can be difficult for many people with ME due to the impact of symptoms and limited energy. However, where people are able to take part, sharing lived experiences can help highlight the realities of navigating the benefits system with ME.

We will continue to follow developments closely, develop our organisational response, and share updates from the Review - including opportunities for people to feed into the process where possible.