PIP: Government should focus on fixing health system, not stigmatising disabled people

The government has led the headlines today with plans to tighten access to Personal Independence Payments (PIP), a form of financial support which helps disabled people with living costs.

Mark Winstanley, Chief Executive for Rethink Mental Illness, said:

“Rather than chasing headlines stigmatising people with health conditions, the truly sensible and grown-up approach from the government would be to focus on improving access to the desperately under-resourced health and social care system, while making the social security system safer for disabled people who rely on it. People living with mental illness tell us that they already struggle to access financial support such as PIP, and under changes proposed by government, we’re concerned many more individuals will come to harm. In a necessary debate about how we can better support people to work when they are well enough to do so, while supporting those too unwell to work, the government is ultimately deciding to prioritise rhetoric that harms disabled people, and that is dispiriting.”