The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has confirmed that no assessment has been made into the potential costs involved of means-testing Personal Independence Payment (PIP), following Secretary of State Mel Stride’s comments in Parliament last week.
During his first oral session as DWP boss, Mr Stride could not give ‘categorical assurance’ that he would not introduce means-testing for disability benefits including PIP, Attendance Allowance and Disability Living Allowance for Children, when asked by Labour’s shadow secretary of state for work and pensions, Jonathan Ashworth. In a follow-up to his original question, Mr Ashworth asked whether DWP had conducted an assessment of the administrative costs of means testing PIP per month.
In a written response on November 8, DWP Minister for Disabled People, Tom Pursglove, said: “Personal Independence Payment, as for all the extra costs disability benefits, is not means tested. No assessment has been made of the administrative costs of introducing a means test.”
