DWP PIP claimants may need to provide letter 'proving diagnosis' in crackdown

Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) claimants may need a medical letter to "prove" they are owed the benefit. DWP PIP claimants are facing a strict crackdown and clampdown after the government published a new green paper with a fresh set of proposals.

Among the proposals is the end of cash payments - and even a new voucher-based system. As part of the crackdown, which will be launched by the government with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak vowing to end the UK "sicknote culture", claimants may have to provide medical "proof".

The green paper stipulates: "We want to understand if evidence of a clinical diagnosis made by a healthcare professional could provide a more objective assessment of need than the current functional assessment. This would mean that people could receive entitlement to PIP based on specific health conditions or disability, evidenced by a health care professional, without undergoing an assessment.

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"Some other countries, such as the United States, have a model of disability support that places more emphasis on a list of prescribed conditions. In comparison, the current PIP eligibility is based on an assessment of functional needs with no mandatory requirement for evidence of a specific health condition or disability provided by healthcare providers."

It goes on to add: "We think an assessment based on condition would require a greater emphasis on the provision of medical evidence of a diagnosis and we would need to consider the requirement this would place on the NHS and health professionals. We have committed across government to reduce administrative burdens on general practice. We would need to carefully consider how to ensure this approach would be fair and whether it would be the best use of resource.

"Currently, people are encouraged to send their own evidence such as hospital letters or care plans to support their claim. If further evidence is needed, the assessment provider contacts the GP or hospital via a form for further information, but this form is often not returned or contains limited information. With improved digitalisation of the NHS, it now often shares hospital letters by post or through online services with patients, and people now have access to their own health records through the NHS app. We would like to know if this access to documentation could be used better as evidence of a health condition or disability to support the assessment for eligibility for PIP."