New disability benefit will replace PIP in Scotland

Adult Disability Payment’s will replace Personal Independent Payment’s (PIP) from next year.

The new disability benefit will provide additional financial support for Scottish claimants, replacing Personal Independent Payment, and will be piloted from spring 2022 before being available to all Scottish claimants in the summer.

Claimants who currently receive the UK Government’s disability benefits will be automatically transferred to the new devolved system in stages.

Social Security Scotland has been undertaking three new forms of disability assistance, including this new Adult Disability Payment, as well as Pension Age Disability Payment and Child Disability Payment.

The new benefit states that their strategy will differ due to consultations being tailored to the individual, and is person-focused, and will therefore not ask claimants to perform any specific tasks to demonstrate the limitations of their disability or health condition.

The guidance states: ‘Clients will therefore not be asked unnecessary or repeated questions, nor will they be rushed in giving an account of how completing an activity makes them feel.

‘Social Security Scotland practitioners will take the time necessary to fully understand the impacts of a disability and/or health condition on the client.

‘Functional examinations will not be carried out as part of a consultation. We believe such examinations do not treat people with dignity, fairness and respect and do not result in accurate and consistent decision making.”

The ADP benefit will be available to anybody in Scotland between ages 16 and State Pension Age, that has difficulty with daily living or getting outside your home, and has a difficulty that has lasted for three months and is expected to go on for at least another nine months, excluding terminal illnesses.

This comes after news that 70% of PIP tribunals are won, which charity Scope argues is down to unfit assessors delaying PIP benefits.