Mallon: Implementation of new PIP rules for claimants with severe disabilities can’t wait

SDLP Deputy Leader Nichola Mallon MLA has written to the Department for Communities following a DWP’s announcement that PIP claimants with severe life-long conditions will no longer have to go through regular reviews to maintain their PIP award.

They instead will receive a light touch review every 10 years.

The development is good news for those claimants in Derry but it is short on detail as to which conditions will received the light touch review.

Said Ms Mallon: “Though this change is a step in the right direction, this Tory Government has had to be dragged into making change rather than do the right and fair thing- overhauling the system to ensure it protects people and doesn’t punish them.

“In light of this announcement, I have written to the Department for Communities to ask for a full list of what medical conditions this light touch review will apply to, what exactly this light touch review means for claimants and when exactly it comes into effect here in the North of Ireland.

“The SDLP will continue to challenge this cruel system that’s more preoccupied with cutting costs than protecting and empowering citizens,” she added.

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