DR UK Says – Support The Additional Costs Disability Payment Alternative To PIP
Mikey Erhardt, policy lead for Disability Rights UK, said the proposal was “an incredible bit of work” and looks “significantly better than anything I have ever seen the Government propose on this” and was “one of the most exciting things I have seen in this space”.
He added that he hoped it could bring the disability movement together “around something that is positive and exciting and important”.
The Commission are a group of people with lived experience of the current social security system – “In other words, we are experts in the social security system and what works, and what doesn’t.”
The proposed payment aims to provide fair, dignified, and holistic support to Deaf and Disabled people, addressing the additional costs and systemic barriers that they face.
In January 2025, the Commission launched a public consultation to get feedback on the draft proposal. over a 6-week period we received over 5,000 responses to our online survey as well as high interest in our focus groups.
The proposal comes after the government’s U-turn on its Universal Credit and PIP reform bill, which initially proposed major changes to disability benefits. The Commission warns that this chaos is the inevitable result of trying to design policy without the people directly affected.
The Government has since committed that the forthcoming Timms Review of PIP will be co-produced with disabled people.
The Commission’s new proposal, which draws from insights from more than 5,000 contributions, provides a blueprint for how co-production can be done well, rather than as lip service.
PIP was created to help disabled people cover the additional costs of disability. But in practice it puts people through stressful assessments, is plagued by inaccurate decisions and a culture of mistrust, and too often leaves claimants fighting for support.
Rather than enabling participation in work and society, the system actively undermines it.
If enacted, the Commission’s proposed alternative would:
- Ensure payments cover the real additional costs of disability and long-term health conditions.
- Replace stressful points-based assessments with a process rooted in the Social Model of Disability.
- Guarantee that decisions are made with disabled people, not imposed on them.
- Provide advocacy and support throughout the process.
Genuine co-production is vital to ensure the Timms Review puts forward reforms that make things better, not worse, and to rebuild trust with disabled people.
The Commission’s Additional Costs Disability Payment shows how this can be achieved.
Rosa Morris, Commission on Social Security Project Worker, said:
“We're incredibly proud of this proposal, which has benefitted from over 5,000 people’s insights and contributions during our consultation earlier this year. It demonstrates that co-production of social security policy is possible.
“The upcoming Timms Review and wider government must listen to calls from disabled people and their organisations and commit to genuine co-production.
“For disabled people, we hope this proposal offers new hope, and something positive to campaign for, after 15 years of brutal cuts and determined resistance.”
For more information see:
- The Commission’s full proposals for an Additional Costs Disability Payment
- The full proposals in an easy read format.
- What an Additional Costs Disability Payment claimant journey would look like.
Information about the Commission on Social Security is available from commissiononsocialsecurity.org.uk.
See also Praise for ‘incredible’ new plan to replace ‘deeply-flawed’ PIP available from disabilitynewsservice.com.