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UK Launches First Full Review of PIP, Appoints External Co-Chairs

Disabled people will shape the process through a new steering group, with conclusions expected by autumn 2026.

Overview

  • The Department for Work and Pensions named Dr Clenton Farquharson CBE and Sharon Brennan as co-chairs alongside Minister Sir Stephen Timms.
  • Recruitment has opened for a steering group that will be majority disabled people or representatives of their organisations.
  • The review will scrutinise PIP’s daily living and mobility components, the assessment descriptors and points, and the benefit’s role as a gateway to wider support.
  • Officials have begun exploring digital transfer of NHS medical evidence, with claimant consent, to reduce paperwork and speed up decisions.
  • Ministers say no eligibility or assessment changes will be made until an interim update and a final report by autumn 2026, with PIP currently supporting about 3.7–3.8 million people in England and Wales and around 39% on five-year-plus awards.