The Timms Review (of Personal Independence Payment – PIP) must set out how PIP can be made fairer, more accurate, easier to access, trusted by people with disabilities and fit for modern patterns of disability, while continuing to support independence and dignity now and in the future.
The Review was established following the passing of the Universal Credit Bill in July last year. The Bill had its name changed from The Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill after Government was forced by campaigners to make concessions on the PIP clauses.
According to its Terms of Reference and stakeholder bodies such as Citizens Advice, the review is expected to achieve the following core aims:
- Ensure PIP is fair, accurate and fit for the modern world.
- Create a system that people with disabilities can trust.
- Improve the PIP application and assessment process.
- Support people with disabilities to live independently and with dignity.
- Keep PIP sustainable and lawful for the future.
The Review sets out to examine whether PIP properly reflects today’s patterns of disability, including the rise in mental health conditions and fluctuating or long-term illnesses. It aims to ensure that assessments capture the real impact of health conditions on everyday life, not just medical diagnoses.
The Review aims to rebuild confidence by being co‑produced by people with disabilities, ensuring lived experience shapes outcomes. It must address concerns about errors, inconsistency and poor‑quality assessments.
To improve the PIP application and assessment process, the Review must consider a simpler, more accessible application process, high-quality, consistent assessments and clear, accurate, timely decision making. As PIP may soon act as a gateway to other disability benefits, this could increase the consequences of incorrect decisions.
The Review must also ensure PIP continues to support better health outcomes, higher living standards and greater independence, including access to work where possible. While not designed to cut spending, the review must consider long‑term sustainability as claimant numbers rise. Any future changes must balance fairness, support and public confidence and comply with equality and human rights obligations.
Call for evidence
There is a call for evidence regarding the Review, which is aimed at organisations and individuals who have information that is relevant to the Review. DWP states, ‘The Timms Review is committed to engaging with disabled people, the organisations that represent them, carers, clinicians, experts, MPs and other stakeholders, so a wide range of views and voices are heard. The purpose is to gather evidence from all interested parties to inform the Review.
‘The Review welcomes evidence and insight from individuals and organisations with lived or learned experience, knowledge and expertise. Evidence can take many forms and could include written submissions, existing data or unpublished analysis or reports.’
The call for evidence is part of a wider programme of engagement with stakeholders which will be determined by the steering group. There is still time to submit evidence until 11.59pm on 28th May 2026 and all evidence submitted will be made available to the steering group. In addition, DWP plans to create a summary response to support the steering group in consolidating the evidence.
For more information about the Timms Review and to submit your evidence online, visit GOV.UK. You can also email [email protected]
Disabled people with complex needs have the same rights to connection, communication, opportunity and control as anyone else. At Sense, we hear every day how vital disability benefits are in combatting the societal barriers which keep disabled people with complex needs from accessing those rights. For Charlotte, one of our experts by experience, her disability benefits enable her to afford an adapted car, making it possible to get to work and see her friends. Emma, another of our experts by experience, feels pride in the autonomy she gets from managing her finances. Yet our welfare system is beset with problems which create, rather than break down, barriers. Sense research found that half of disabled people with complex needs described the benefits assessment process as humiliating, and two in five said the Department for Work and Pensions had communicated with them in ways that did not meet their access needs. Financially, the system is also falling short. Disability benefits are too low and as a result, 43% of disabled people with complex needs who receive benefits are in debt because their support does not cover essential costs. Therefore, it is vital that the Timms Review does not focus on reducing costs. We know that cutting welfare rarely delivers true savings. It often shifts costs elsewhere, increasing pressure on already stretched health and social care systems. With more than half of disabled people with complex needs claiming Personal Independence Payment (PIP), their voices must be central to the Timms Review. Yet the barriers they face mean they are too often excluded from shaping the policies that affect them. The Review must take proactive steps to ensure disabled people with complex needs, including those who draw on social care, can meaningfully participate. Disabled people with complex needs are experts in how the system works in practice: where it supports independence, and where it falls short. Their insight is essential to building a welfare system that is accessible, dignified and fit for purpose. James Watson-O’Neill, Chief Executive, Sense Email: [email protected] LinkedIn: @James-Watson-O’Neill
A new social security system cannot be built by following the old rules. This outdated process is in desperate need of new ideas, led by co-production. It is welcomed that the Timms Review is being co-chaired by Sharron Brennon and Dr Clenton Farquharson CBE. Genuine co-production is a necessity to ensure the first-ever comprehensive review of PIP truly reflects and implements reforms to create a new benefit system with the respectful and dignified ethos it deserves. PIP is a vital lifeline so unsurprisingly, the Review alarmed many. We have heard valid concerns that the Review could narrow access of support, rather than make the system more accessible, supportive and tailored to individual needs. The Review is an opportunity to address concerns about the public perception of PIP, often further exacerbated by the media which conflate PIP as an out of work benefit, rather than the enabling benefit which supports disabled people to sustain employment. Too many people are disillusioned and are uncertain about whether their voices will be truly heard. This is why it is so important that people feed in their experiences and perspectives, so the Review captures the diverse experiences of people who rely on PIP every day. I know from our campaign, My Vote My Voice, the importance of empowering people to speak up so they can influence decisions and shape the systems that directly affect their lives. The commitment to lived experience that is steering this Review gives me hope that listening will not be a tick box exercise. Ultimately, the success of the Review will not be in the process itself but how effectively it absorbs people’s life experiences and how much it translates into meaningful outcomes. Ali Gunn, Executive Director of Engagement and Development, United Response Email: [email protected] LinkedIn: @Ali-Gunn