The analysis, by Cool Crutches & Walking Sticks, said that in data obtained from gov.uk, about 300,000 PIP claims were rejected in 2024, with one three UK areas topping the list for refusals.
Personal Independence Payment claimants could lose £9,583 because of a postcode lottery. The analysis, by Cool Crutches & Walking Sticks, said that in data obtained from gov.uk, about 300,000 PIP claims were rejected in 2024, with one three UK areas topping the list for refusals.
Birmingham topped the list, with 8,240 rejections followed by Manchester with 4,212 denials and then Leeds with 4,196. Last year, Cool Crutches & Walking Sticks analysed the additional cost of living with a disability and found that disabled people in Britain are paying £12,000 more per year to live.
Disability advocate Amelia Peckham, co-founder of Cool Crutches & Walking Sticks, is keen for PIP claims to be made easier, citing the high rejection rate as well as her own experiences. During a girls’ holiday in Scotland, Amelia was involved in a quad bike accident at the age of 19. She was thrown into the air after hitting a pothole.
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The resulting spinal injury, which her doctor likened to a meringue being smashed with a hammer, left her bedridden for months and permanently reliant on mobility aids. Amelia attended her reassessment alone, due to her husband looking after their sick children, but felt that this – along with using a table to stand up instead of her crutch – got her marked down. Her PIP claim was stopped as a result.
She said: “PIP applications are notoriously long and complicated. By the time you reach the interview stage you’ve already completed days of work to gather the information required. In my experience the interview was designed to try and trip me up, to catch me out, and intentionally question every element of my disability.”
If you qualify for the 2024/2025 enhanced daily living and mobility components of PIP, you’ll get £184.30 a week, £737.20 every four weeks and £9,583.60 a year. She said: “As the least fraudulently claimed benefit, with a zero per cent fraud rate, it is staggering to hear how many negative experiences are happening. My personal experience was soul-destroying, it undermined my disability, and genuinely compromised both my physical and mental health for years afterwards.”
She added: “We need a system that is better at screening, that separates different disabilities and accommodates them. One size doesn’t fit all and it’s key the nuances in disability are accommodated with nuances in applications, interviews, and decisions.”