PIP recipients urged to have their say as Sunak plans to change eligibility rules and replace cash with vouchers

The three major changes set to be included in the Green Paper are:

• Changing the PIP eligibility criteria to reflect how conditions affect a claimant's daily life
• Making the PIP assessment more closely linked to someone's condition, including removing assessments entirely for some people's conditions supported by medical evidence
• Moving away from a fixed cash benefit for some conditions, and instead providing either one-off grants for specific costs such as home adaptation, or ensuring access to "alternative means of support".

In the consultation, they intend to look at changing the qualifying period for PIP and consider changing the test used to determine if a condition is likely to continue long-term.

The options being considered include one-off grants to help people with home adaptations or expensive equipment, giving vouchers to contribute towards specific costs and reimbursing claimants who provide receipts for purchases of aids, appliances or services.

The Government says it is also considering whether some people on PIP who have lower or no extra costs could benefit from "improved access to treatment and support" rather than cash payments.

The consultation will be published this afternoon, and be open for 12 weeks, closing on July 23.

The DWP says it is inviting views from across society, "to ensure everyone has a chance to shape the modernisation of the welfare system".

Some 2.6 million people of working age claim PIP and Disability Living Allowance (DLA).

There are now 33,000 new awards for PIP each month, more than double the rate seen before the pandemic.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the disability benefits system "isn't working in the way it intended" adding: "We’re determined to reform it to ensure it’s sustainable for the future, so we can continue delivering support to those who genuinely need it most.

"Today’s Green Paper marks the next chapter of our welfare reforms and is part of our plan to make the benefits system fairer to the taxpayer, better targeted to individual needs and harder to exploit by those who are trying to game the system.

"We’re inviting views from across society to ensure everyone has a chance to make their voices heard and shape our welfare reforms."

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James Taylor, the executive director of strategy at disability equity charity Scope urged an end to the “reckless assault” on disabled people and said the Government should instead fix the “real underlying issues”.

He said: “It’s hard to have any faith that this consultation is about anything other than cutting the benefits bill, no matter the impact.

“Life costs a lot more for disabled people, including people with mental health conditions. Threatening to take away the low amount of income PIP provides won’t solve the country’s problems.

“The government needs to end this reckless assault on disabled people and focus on how to fix the real underlying issues.”

Tom Marsland, policy manager at the national disability charity Sense, said: “The government’s narrative around disability benefits lately has been divisive and deeply damaging, suggesting benefits are being ‘too readily’ handed out. We’ve already heard from disabled people who feel sick with worry that they might lose their PIP, which gives them a vital financial lifeline.

“For most disabled people, disability benefits aren’t covering their costs as it stands – Sense research has found nearly half of disabled people found it difficult to afford costs related to their condition. Disabled people desperately need more support, not rhetoric that casts them as undeserving.

“Disability benefits are a good thing. They help disabled people to live full, happy lives. We should be proud as a country of having a system in place that provides disabled people with a safety net, not demonising those who need to use it.”