‘All assessor wanted to do was tick boxes’
detailing massive extra costs directly related to the 20 metre rule. This includes significant costs to the DWP itself.
Additional costs for the years 2020-23 (the review period) include: £22.3m cost to the NHS on increased use of GP, A&E and counselling services, £57.4m in lost tax revenue from people with MS and their carers having to reduce hours or leave work, £11.4m in extra benefit payments (Employment and Support Allowance and Carer’s Allowance) for people who left work and £1.7m in processing extra appeals and reassessments.
Morna Simpkins, director of MS Society Scotland, said: “We’ve long known about the enormous harm caused when PIP takes vital support away from people with MS. Our new report shows for the first time that this harm is rebounding on the UK government: the knock-on costs from people losing support are greater than the original cuts. So the UK government is squandering millions from the public purse while derailing lives.
“Scrapping this senseless rule would stop this unnecessary waste and help people with MS finally get the support they need. MS can be painful Barbara Hogarth, age 67, from Coldstream in the Borders, was diagnosed with MS in September 1993. Shortly after, she started receiving Disability Living Allowance (DLA) and was given an indefinite award for the highest mobility and lowest care.
In June 2017, Barbara was reassessed for PIP and was downgraded to the lowest standard rate for mobility and no care.
She successfully appealed, after a sixmonth wait, to be given back the same level of support she had received on DLA.
However, this support is only for a three-year period for her life-long condition.
and exhausting, it shouldn’t be made harder by a welfare system that doesn’t make sense.”
According to the MS Society, the condition can increase living costs by around £200 a week, with one in three people with MS losing support, primarily due to the 20 metre rule.
As part of its MS: Enough campaign, the MS Society is urging Work and Pensions
Barbara said: “The assessment tested my reflexes and muscle power. I said I could do things once or twice but not repeatedly but I don’t think this was taken in.
“The assessor spent more time looking at his computer screen than me. All he seemed to want to do was tick boxes.
“If I said I could do something then the box got ticked, but I didn’t get the chance to explain anything further. My statements and substantial supporting medical evidence were largely disregarded.
“I had supplied contact details for my GP and consultant, and provided letters and reports from my optician and other therapists. But I couldn’t see how these were taken into account.”
Secretary Amber Rudd to scrap the 20 metre rule and agree in consultation with disabled people, healthcare professionals and charities on a new measure of mobility support. Since the campaign launched in 2018, more than 36,000 people across the country have called on the UK government to scrap the rule.