'I applied for PIP three times and it was gruelling and horrific'
A woman who has applied for personal independence payments (PIP) three times fears proposed benefits by the UK Government will have a "harrowing" impact on the most vulnerable North Wales families.
Dinah, from Colwyn Bay, has launched a petition urging her local Labour MP, Gill German, who represents Clwyd North, to vote against her government's plan to cut £5billion from the welfare budget.
The changes are due to be introduced this week before being voted on before the end of the month. Dinah, who asked for her surname not to be published, is one of tens of thousands of people who now fear their lives could be severely affected by the cost-cutting measures.
Dinah, 29, has endured mental health problems since childhood including PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder), OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder), and depression, since childhood.
Sign up for the North Wales Live newsletter sent twice daily to your inbox
She explained her own experience of applying for the payment which gives financial support to people living with long-term physical or mental health conditions.
Dinah, who does work, described the assessment process as 'gruelling and horrific' requiring her to share extremely personal details, even relating to showering, washing, and toilet needs.
She added: "If the proposed changes to welfare benefits go through, I will have absolutely no chance of getting PIP under the new scoring criteria.
"I do work, but I struggle to make ends meet as a single adult with no family support - I struggle to afford my rent and bills, and I have to occasionally rely on food banks. I have been suicidal in the past due to historical trauma and financial stress.
'PIP would enable me to afford specialised therapy that will enable me to not only stay healthy and able to work, but to sustain me and prevent my mental health from spiralling.'
She added: 'Over the past few weeks, I've been out meeting fellow residents of Clwyd North, listening to their stories, raising awareness of the proposed welfare cuts, and collecting signatures for a petition I will be delivering to MP Gill German.
'I spoke recently with Gill, sharing my own story and that of other local PIP claimants, and she told me she intends to vote for these proposals with no plans for any replacement support to speak of. The DWP's own impact assessment suggests that 400,000 households, including 50,000 children, will be pushed into poverty as a result of the cuts. Other independent experts put this figure even higher.
'Some of the stories I've heard from local people have been harrowing, including from homeless people and seriously mentally and physically disabled people who literally rely on PIP to survive. Every single person I've spoken to opposes the cuts. These changes are going to impact our society's most vulnerable, and it's absolutely crystal clear that local constituents do not support them.'
Clwyd North MP Gill German defended the government's bid to cut the welfare bill. She said: 'Our health and disability benefits system and employment support system needs urgent reform. Since our Pathways to Work Green Paper was published in March, I have engaged extensively on this with constituents as well as national and local organisations in this field, including person-roundtable events in Clwyd North and through work as a member of the Work and Pensions Select Committee.
'These have informed my representations to government ministers and the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions. I will continue to work with government on this important issue.'
Conwy County Council's carers' champion Cheryl Carlisle said had been contacted by many residents distressed by the Government's proposals.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Times
an hour ago
- Times
Starmer must find it in himself to be a true leader
Prime ministerial authority can end with a spectacular tyre-shredding blowout, à la Liz Truss, or more usually a slow puncture. The latter begins with a series of stumbles, which early on are judged forgivable, but as time passes become less so. Once a prime minister is designated 'accident prone' recovery, in the eyes of the electorate, and his or her party, becomes steadily less likely. Irritation evolves into disillusionment, and disillusionment into contempt. From then on, defeat at the ballot box, or a pre-emptive strike from the men in grey suits, is a matter of time. Sir Keir Starmer has not careered off the motorway trailing smoking rubber, like Ms Truss. But his every appearance is now accompanied by an ominous hiss. Labour's inaugural year was never going to be easy, given the legacy of the Conservative era, but the first anniversary of its general election win this coming Friday will be unusually downbeat. Following a series of unforced errors, typified by this week's humiliating climbdown on welfare reform in the face of a mass uprising by Labour MPs, this government is already looking distinctly ragged. And responsibility for its sorry state must ultimately lie with the prime minister. By his failure to plan for power, by his lapses of judgment, by his lack of grip, Sir Keir has created this mess. • A year on, is the Starmer project doomed or can he claw it back? The Labour leader was never going to be loved for his charisma. His selling point was lawyerly sobriety, his prosecutor's punctiliousness. Yet successive fiascos tell a different tale. Depriving pensioners of winter fuel payments, raising employers' national insurance, ditching the Rwanda scheme while not replacing it with a small boats deterrent, understating the harm of grooming gangs: these were the results of Sir Keir's failure to devise detailed plans for the economy and migration in opposition, to devise a coherent narrative explaining difficult choices, and to practise basic politics in spotting approaching danger. Labour rebels, scenting blood, are looking for a scalp in Downing Street. Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, is the ideal prize for unreconstructed statists; or perhaps Morgan McSweeney, Sir Keir's chief of staff, whose brutal but effective silencing of Labour's left before the election inevitably made him enemies. The case against Ms Reeves, to whom Sir Keir appears to have ceded total control over economic policy, is more plausible than that against Mr McSweeney. Her national insurance hike dealt a huge blow to growth, while her winter fuel and working-age health benefits cuts appeared more the result of panic than part of a detailed strategy for reining in a bloated state. • Meet Brian Leishman, the leftwinger holding Keir Starmer's feet to the fire Yet, the chief culprit for Labour's malaise must be Sir Keir. Great prime ministers ultimately delegate to no one in central areas of policy like welfare reform, which must continue if the public finances are to be rescued. Equally, a leader who ignores his backbenchers, especially after a landslide has produced hordes of naive and ambitious new ones, is asking for trouble. In an interview marking his first year, Sir Keir admitted to presentational errors. But the problem runs deeper. This government increasingly comes across as inept: kneejerk rather than strategic in policy implementation, subject to panic and surrender at the first whiff of cordite. Some £4.5 billion has been shaved off its wafer-thin fiscal headroom by the welfare retreat. Autumn tax rises loom; bond markets grow sceptical; deeper unpopularity beckons. Sir Keir handled Donald Trump well, and mended ties with Europe, but he will live or die on the domestic battlefield. Wage growth is forecast to stagnate; Reform would be the biggest party in an election tomorrow. To survive, Sir Keir must become a dominating personality not a bureaucrat, gripping policy, punishing failure, espousing a vision. He must become what he has never truly reconciled himself to being: a politician. If not, there's always someone else willing to have a go.
The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
‘You have to fight tooth and nail': PIP claimants tell of struggle to get awarded as Labour accused of making it harder
Sarah has just found out that she will likely be able to keep her Personal Independence Payment (PIP) after months of worry. The 40-year-old mother-of-one works from home, which allows her to juggle life with being a new parent and her disabilities. Chronic fatigue syndrome in her joints means she regularly experiences brain fog and exhaustion, and needs help. And it's her PIP that makes this possible, helping her to afford a carer, stay in work and spend time with her baby. Claimed by 3.7 million people, the health-linked benefit at the heart of Labour's proposed welfare reforms is designed to help with extra costs incurred by living with an illness or disability. The government's concessions on plans to cut welfare spending now mean that Sarah won't be subject to stricter eligibility criteria when next assessed for the benefit. Instead, from November 2026, only new claimants look set to be subject to the tighter criteria, under Labour's bill going through Parliament. But Sarah says she is struggling to see this as a victory. 'If there's another Sarah who's born a few years later, and ended up in this situation, it's still just as appalling,' she says. 'It's encouraging some disabled people to throw other disabled people under the bus. And it's vicious, because it relies on some people being scared enough to say 'well, we'll take what we can get'.' And like so many others, Sarah did not find applying for PIP an easy process to begin with. 'It feels really deliberate' 'It feels like you're being tripped up constantly,' Sarah says. 'It feels really deliberate, how difficult it is. It feels extremely deliberate. Because there are so many ways it can be made more accessible to disabled people.' Halfway through her assessment for PIP, Sarah's infant daughter started to cry in the other room. This caused her to panic, and she shouted to her husband that the baby might need changing. Because of this 'the assessor said I was clearly able to respond to my daughter's needs and assess what she needed,' Sarah says. 'But I said to him I can't care for my daughter on my own, I rely on other people doing that for me. I need somebody with me while I'm with her.' None of this was included in his report, she claims. And it's not just Sarah. Ginny's husband Tim was diagnosed with myotonic muscular dystrophy in 2006, a progressive genetic condition that affects muscles and movement. The mother-of-two works part-time while also caring for her husband full-time. His PIP award means means Ginny is entitled to a £200 Carers Allowance, which she says is essential to support her family. 'Tim doesn't like to admit it, but people frequently can't understand what he says. Every day I'm asking him to repeat himself as his wife, and I know him well,' Ginny explains. 'He was asked to repeat himself at least five times during the assessment. But when it came to the report, it said the assessor had no problem understanding him.' Ginny says the assessor also wrote down that Tim was managing to work part-time for 25 hours as a library assistant. He was actually working just 25 hours a month, just over six hours a week, Ginny says. 'Do you have a dog?' At a PIP assessment, the assessor will decide if an applicant has limited ability to carry out daily living activities. They do this by asking applicants to carry out a range of activities, awarding them points based on how limited their ability is. According to one former assessor, opening questions might include: 'How are you doing today? How did you get here? Do you have a dog?' An applicant could be forgiven for thinking these questions are just small talk, their PIP assessor being friendly and trying to ease them into the process. But in most cases, the assessment has already begun, the former worker says. How they answer these questions could be the difference between a lifeline to pay for their health-related costs or nothing. The former assessor, who wished to remain anonymous, said this approach is standard for PIP assessors. It is permitted under the DWP 's PIP assessment guide, which recommends assessors carry out 'informal observations' that may 'show discrepancies'. 'As soon as you say to them, 'I'm here to do the assessment, is that OK?' and they say yes, it's started,' she explains. 'And then you'll comment, you'll look around the room for photographs of them on holiday, of children. You're looking for evidence that they're not telling the truth.' According to polling by disability charity Sense, over half (51 per cent) of disabled people with complex needs report feeling humiliated during benefits assessment. A further 45 per cent said the process made their symptoms worse. The charity's policy adviser, Evan John, said: 'I think sometimes when you hear some of the discussion around PIP, somebody might think that it was an easy benefit to claim, but that experience is really divorced from the experiences of disabled people.' 'We'd like to see a system that treats disabled people with dignity, that assess people fairly, but doesn't make them feel like criminals for trying to access the support they need.' 'You have to fight tooth and nail' Neither Sarah nor Tim were awarded any points at their PIP assessment. Instead, they asked for a mandatory consideration, but were turned down and faced a lengthy wait for an appeal at a tribunal. 'We went to mandatory consideration fully aware that they would just turn that down because that seems to be the standard with them,' Ginny says. 'But that was just a step to go to appeal.' Sarah was only given the lowest rate of PIP after tribunal, while Tim was awarded his in light of more medical evidence. Around 56 per cent of PIP assessments resulted in a reward between 2019 and 2024. But around two-thirds of decisions are overturned at the tribunal stage, independent of the DWP, by a panel of decision-makers including a judge. 'You have to fight tooth and nail,' Ginny says. 'All the government's talk about 'people just are getting this too easily' or 'supporting people who have the most severe conditions'. 'In my book, my husband has a severe condition and it just feels like they're redefining disability to suit themselves.' It remains to be seen whether the government's concessions over its welfare plans will be enough to appease wavering backbenchers with MPs set to vote on the measures on Tuesday. A DWP spokesperson said: 'The fact is that PIP assessment suppliers and healthcare professionals are involved in the process but are only one part of the evidence used – they have no role in the decision-making process, and are clearly instructed not to base their opinions solely on the situation seen at assessment. 'We're creating a sustainable welfare system that genuinely supports sick and disabled people while always protecting those who need it most, and at the heart of this is our review of the PIP assessment to ensure it is fit for the future. 'We will work with disabled people and a range of experts on this as we deliver our Plan for Change.'
The Independent
2 hours ago
- The Independent
Starmer defends benefits U-turn and says fixing broken welfare system a ‘moral imperative'
Sir Keir Starmer has warned Britain's benefits system is broken and fixing it is a 'moral imperative', days after a revolt by his own backbenchers forced him into a U-turn on welfare cuts. The Labour leader announced the climbdown late this week, in the face of potential defeat by Labour MPs over his plans. On Saturday he pledged Labour would not"take away the safety net" on which vulnerable people rely. But he added that he could not let welfare"become a snare for those who can and want to work" as he said that "everyone agrees" on the need for change. Earlier he faced calls for a 'reset' of his government, in the wake of the welfare debacle, by the Labour peer and party grandee Lord Falconer. The veteran Labour MP Diane Abbott also hit out at some of Sir Keir's advisers, calling them 'angry and factional' in an interview with the BBC's Today programme. Despite the climbdown the prime minister is also continuing to battle with some of his own MPs over the planned cuts, with reports some rebel MPs will attempt to put down a new amendment on Monday to delay the bill. On Friday Ms Abbott said that reports of the rebellion's death 'are greatly exaggerated'. Downing Street now expects its plans to pass their second reading in the House of Commons on Tuesday, however. In a speech to the Welsh Labour conference, Sir Keir said repairing the system had to be done in a "Labour way". "We cannot take away the safety net that vulnerable people rely on, and we won't, but we also can't let it become a snare for those who can and want to work," he said. "Everyone agrees that our welfare system is broken: failing people every day, a generation of young people written off for good and the cost spiralling out of control. "Fixing it is a moral imperative, but we need to do it in a Labour way." Sir Keir had been facing a humiliating defeat, with more than 120 Labour MPs having signed a rebel amendment seeking to kill the welfare bill. But leading economists have warned that, taken together, the U-turns on benefit cuts and winter fuel payments have blown a £4.5bn hole in the public finances that will 'very likely' be filled by tax rises in the autumn Budget. The Resolution Foundation said the prime minister 's decision to protect existing claimants of disability benefits and health benefits would be far more expensive than expected. The Resolution Foundation said the change to Sir Keir's welfare bill, which will protect all those currently claiming Personal Independence Payments (PIP), will stop 370,000 people from losing the support. That will cost £2.1bn per year by 2030, while a separate move to protect the income of all those receiving the health element of Universal Credit, which will affect 2.2 million people, will cost up to a further £1.1bn each year. It will wipe out up to £3.2bn of the £5bn the government had hoped to save through the changes. The National Institute of Economic and Social Research said taxes will 'almost certainly' go up in the autumn. There is speculation the chancellor could raise the money through so-called 'fiscal drag' by freezing income tax thresholds, with Ruth Curtice, the chief executive of the Resolution Foundation, saying the 'most obvious thing' would be to extend the freeze for another two years. Ministers have refused to speculate on how the government will pay for the changes. Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said Sir Keir had left the country with 'the worst of all worlds' after the U-turn.
