Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an estimate of the potential impact of her Department's proposed changes to the eligibility for PIP on the number of people who qualify for (a) a Blue Badge, (b) Housing Benefit and (c) Carer’s Allowance in Wiltshire.

Changes to the daily living component of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) will not have an impact on Blue Badge holders as no changes are being made to the mobility component of PIP.

The assessment by the Office for Budget Responsibility of the impact of the proposed changes on carers was made for England and Wales as a whole.

The impacts can be found in table A4 here: Spring Statement 2025 health and disability benefit reforms – Impacts.

Notes:

• There will be no immediate changes. Changes to PIP eligibility and rebalancing of UC aren’t coming into effect immediately. Our intention is these changes will start to come into effect from April 2026 for UC and November 2026 for PIP, subject to parliamentary approval.
• PIP changes will only apply at the next award review after November 2026. The average award review period is about three years. At the award review, claimants will be seen by a trained assessor or healthcare professional and assessed on individual needs and circumstances.
• We are consulting on how best to support those who are affected by the new eligibility changes, including how to make sure health and eligible care needs are met. PIP is not based on condition diagnosis but on functional disability as the result of one or more conditions, and is awarded as a contribution to the additional costs which result.
• We also intend to launch a wider review of the PIP assessment which I will lead, and we will bring together a range of experts, stakeholders and people with lived experience to consider how best to do this and to start the process as part of preparing for a review. We will provide further details as plans progress.