The Timms review will not carry out any genuine consultation with disabled claimants, the DWP has revealed. Instead, there will be a series of carefully controlled events and DIY consultations that organisations will be expected to fund themselves.
So far, the Timms review has issued an extraordinarily complex “Call for evidence” in March, which was clearly not fit for purpose as a means of consulting with the majority of claimants. The call for evidence ends on 28 May 2026.
At the time, we expressed the hope that a detailed consultation aimed at claimants would be held at a later date.
It is now clear this will not happen.
The DWP issued a press release at the end of last month entitled: “Have your say: PIP review launches engagement programme for disabled people to get involved.”
The press release claims that: “Disabled people, the organisations that represent them, and other experts are being given more ways to shape a review of Personal Independence Payment (PIP).”
However, this is not a genuine, consultation aimed at involving as many disabled claimants as possible. Instead, there will be a number of carefully controlled events taking place at unspecified dates over the coming months, along with research projects and literature reviews.
The DWP say these include:
‘Workshop in a box’ resources kits to be shared with organisations and elected representatives.
We suspect these will consist of a zip file of slides and questionnaires for participants to complete, which will be made available to disability organisations and others who will then have the responsibility of organising a workshop and returning the results to the DWP. There is no indication that there will be any funding for these events, whether they take place online or in-person.
Evidence sessions with experts, including people with lived experience and relevant professionals.
The problem with these is that it is the Timms review which decides who is an expert and what questions they wish to ask. We strongly suspect that these sessions will be held behind closed doors.
Deliberative events to be held across the UK later in the year
Deliberative events are, apparently, facilitated group discussions. The Timms review say these will be “bringing people together to test ideas, explore trade-offs, and help shape the Review’s final recommendations.” Once again, however, it is the review that will decide who attends and what issues are covered. The reference to exploring trade-offs is likely to set alarm bells ringing for many readers.
Existing data and research
That the review will be looking at existing data and research is no surprise, but it doesn’t at all constitute a way for disabled people to “to shape a review”.
New quantitative survey research
The review says it will commission the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen), “to fill gaps in the current evidence base around independent living and how PIP acts a gateway to other support.” No further information is given about what gaps there are in the evidence about independent living. Not is it clear exactly what “other support” is being looked at. Again, this seems a very long way from enabling disabled people to " to shape a review”.
The press release ends by explaining that “Further details on how people can have their say will be announced in the coming weeks.”
The reality seems to be that the Timms Review is doing everything it can to avoid a genuine, mass consultation with disabled claimants. Instead, it is stalling for time by releasing scant information about events to be held at unspecified dates in the future, with most of these not even open to most disabled claimants.
Back in March, when the Timms review issued its appalling call for evidence, we said:
“The review committee say they will be engaging with people in many other ways in the coming months. So, it may be that a proper consultation on specific proposals is still on the cards.
“But it seems very unlikely.”
Now we know for sure that it isn’t going to happen, we are still urging readers to contribute to the call for evidence which closes on 28 May. You can read more about it and how to take part here.
