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Petitioner submission of 9 November 2021

PE1854/G - Review the adult disability payment eligibility criteria for people with mobility needs

This submission was written by the MS Society Scotland (Petitioners)

We ask that the Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee keep the petition open so that all stakeholders, and the committee, can review the Scottish Governments response to the SCoSS review of the regulations before taking evidence from stakeholders with respect to this petition.

Scotland has the opportunity to build a world leading rights based social security service. Free from arbitrary, tick box tests like the 20-metre rule.

Background information

When this petition was discussed by the Committee in September we challenged the Scottish Governments reasons for retaining the 20 metre rule as part of the eligibility criteria for ADP. The Government had stated that they believed any changes to the eligibility criteria would risk the passported benefits of those in receipt of other support from the DWP.

In the intervening period the Committee has written to both the DWP and the Scottish Government asking for clarification on this point.

The DWP response

The DWP response acknowledged that “Some reserved benefits include additional amounts in respect of disability and care needs. Entitlement to these amounts depends on individuals meeting specified criteria which includes receipt of other specified benefits or certain elements or components of them.”

However when they went on to list examples of qualifying benefits they did not specifically mention the mobility component of PIP or ADP as one such qualifying benefit.

We believe this response supports our position that those on the enhanced rate of mobility are not entitled to any additional DWP benefits that those on the standard rate are not.

The DWP response also states that “In the immediate term, the Secretary of State has decided that receipt of the equivalent elements of CDP and ADP will be the means of identifying these needs in order to satisfy the current eligibility criteria for reserved benefits.”

We believe this further strengthens our position as currently people in receipt of the enhanced rate of mobility via PIP are not entitled to any additional benefits than those in receipt of the PIP standard rate of mobility.

The Scottish Government response

In their response the Scottish Government have rightly highlighted the positive changes they have proposed to the assessment process which they will introduce for ADP. We very much welcome these changes and believe that they will improve the experience for applicants. However the assessment process will still be relying on the arbitrary distance of 20 metres as the criteria to assess an individual’s need for mobility support. It doesn’t matter what changes are made to how an assessment is carried out if people are being assessed against the same criteria.

The Scottish Government response also outlines that for ‘passporting’ to continue, then ADP has to be rolled out on a ‘like for like’ basis with PIP. We have addressed this point above and would reiterate that the current position with PIP is that people on the enhanced rate of mobility are not eligible to additional benefits that those on the standard rate are not.

The final section of the Scottish Government response addresses another aspect of the safe and secure transition and the impact different eligibility criteria may have on the number of applications that would be received for ADP. In their response they address the risk of running a two tier system, highlighting that people may choose to apply for ADP immediately on roll out rather than wait for their support to be transferred to Social Security Scotland.

We acknowledge that this is a risk but we believe it would be a relatively small risk. The reason for taking this position, is the assumption people would have to stop claiming PIP to become eligible to apply for ADP. In doing so people would be taking the risk of being without benefit payments for a period of time, possibly months, while their application is processed.

The Scottish Government have also committed to reviewing ADP with the process beginning in 2023. They have suggested that this is when consideration will be given to reviewing and possibly changing the 20 metre rule. If the result of this review is to change the rule, the same situation they would like to avoid in relation to a two tier system resulting in an avalanche of applications and requests for a review, will simply happen at that time. Therefore delaying the change until after the review will simply postpone the implementation of the two tier system and the only people that will suffer as a result of this are people living with disabilities.

It is our position that a system based on the principles of fairness, dignity and respect would address these issues at the earliest opportunity rather than put it off until a later date.