Open appeal to the Timms Review panellists

All Posts, Benefits, Disability Rights, DWP, Letters, local groups, News, PIP, Politics, welfare cuts, Welfare reforms No Responses »

Jan 152026

As the UK Government review into the Personal Independence Payment (PIP) gets underway, a disability campaign group in Wales has today launched an open appeal to the panel members.

The ‘Timms review’, named for the Minister of State for Social Security and Disability Sir Stephen Timms, could affect more than 275,000 people in Wales claiming the disability benefit.

Disabled People Against Cuts Cymru (DPAC Cymru) have, however, raised a number of concerns over the fairness of the review.

They say there are longstanding unaddressed concerns with the way the Pathways to Work consultation was carried out last year, particularly in Wales, and they want the review to examine this to make sure those mistakes aren’t repeated.

They say they are also appealing to the panellists to make sure that the review is genuine, that the outcome is not predetermined, and are calling for participation to be widened.

DPAC Cymru’s call for an independent review, democratically led by disabled people and their organisations, received wide support in Wales from disability groups, trade union organisations, and politicians.

At a lobby of the Senedd late last year, Sioned Williams MS, Plaid Cymru, said “Plaid Cymru backs their call for an independent review of PIP, led by disabled people.”

Dr. Atlaf Hussain MS, Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Equalities & Social Justice, Conservative, also said “I fully support Disabled People Against Cuts Cymru (DPAC Cymru) and their call for an independent, disabled-led review of Personal Independence Payment (PIP).”

Click here to read the letter to the panel members.

Click here for the Easy Read version.

The six “headline” asks of the appeal letter are that:

1. The review should examine how disabled people in Wales were treated unfairly by the UK Government last year, and make sure those mistakes aren’t repeated.

2. The review must be genuine, not predetermined.

3. The review must be independent, democratically led by disabled people and our organisations.

4. The review must have wide participation.

5. The review needs a wider scope for it to be successful.

6. The review must engage with the 1.4 million disabled workers organised democratically in their trade unions.

No matter what the review concludes, the final say rests with ministers. DPAC Cymru will do our part to ensure that disabled people & carers are prepared to defeat the Government again if necessary.

Disability campaigners take independent PIP review call to Welsh Parliament

Action, All Posts, Benefits, Disability Activism, Disability Rights, DWP, local groups, News, PIP, Politics, welfare cuts, Welfare reforms No Responses »

Oct 222025

The words "We want an Independent PIP Review" in bold and black text, with Independent highlighted in red. On the left there is a tear-out effect of a greyscale photo of a disability protest, and a red-tinted photo of Stephen Timms, the disability minister.

On Tuesday 14th October, members and supporters of Disabled People Against Cuts Cymru (DPAC Cymru) met outside the Senedd (the Welsh Parliament) to protest the disability cuts and hand over a letter to Senedd members. The letter, co-signed by over 700 individuals and organisations, outlined DPAC’s request to the Welsh Government to support an independent review of Personal Independence Payment (PIP). The letter calls for a PIP review that is truly led independently by disabled people and our organisations, to allow our lived experience to influence the policies and decisions that will ultimately affect us.

We are grateful to the members of the Senedd who met with us or wrote to us about this matter, and we hope that all members will take into consideration what the letter said.

The lobby happened on the same day that the Minister for Social Security and Disability, Sir Stephen Timms, declined an invitation to meet with the Senedd Cross Party Group on Disability due to “diary pressures”. Timms is currently responsible for the PIP review, and we feel that his response highlights how disabled people and Disabled People’s Organisations (DPOs) are being excluded from the review and decision-making process.

Timms’ promise that the PIP review would be a genuine co-production with disabled people is not being upheld, and the Senedd lobby was part of an ongoing campaign to ensure that disabled people’s voices are being heard.

As a new member of DPAC Cymru, it was wonderful to see so many people at the Senedd to support what DPAC is working to achieve. Given the current situation, it is vital that disabled people’s voices are amplified in a way that is accessible, impactful, and authentic. We will continue to campaign for the rights of disabled people and to push for a fairer, independent PIP review to create a system that truly supports the needs of disabled people across the UK.

Briallen Symons-East
Disabled People Against Cuts Cymru (DPAC Cymru)

Photo: Disability campaigners from Disabled People Against Cuts Cymru outside the Senedd in Cardiff.

Photo: Lee Ellery hands a pack of documents to Sioned Williams MS.

Photo: Lee Ellery hands a pack of documents to Sioned Williams MS – from another angle!

Photo: DPAC Cymru talk with Jenny Rathbone MS outside the Senedd.

Photo: Disability campaigners Lee Ellery and Joshua Reeves BEM conversing.

Photo: disability campaigners converse with Sioned Williams MS.

Photo: DPAC Cymru spoke with Darren Millar MS and his staff outside the Senedd.

Photo: We posed for photos with Sioned Williams MS holding bilingual (English and Welsh) signs that said:
“No disability cuts! Disabled people want to run our own independent PIP review!”

Disability minister Stephen Timms under fire in LBC interview

Action, All Posts, Benefits, Disability Activism, Disability Rights, DWP, Letters, local groups, News, PIP, Politics, welfare cuts, Welfare reforms, Write to your MP 2 Responses »

Sep 132025

Calls for an independent PIP review with UK minister under fire

A Welsh disability group is calling for an independent review of Personal Independence Payments (PIP).

Disabled People Against Cuts Cymru (DPAC Cymru) has accused the disability minister Stephen Timms of failing to properly lead his own review into the disability benefit, saying that “co-production is not taking place as promised.”

Speaking exclusively to LBC’s Welsh Correspondent Caitlin Parr, the group’s comments follow the Minister of State for Social Security and Disability, Sir Stephen Timms MP, meeting with the Welsh Government Disability Equality Forum on Tuesday 2nd.

LBC news reported that DPAC Cymru had long fought for disabled people’s voices to be heard in changes to welfare reforms, but were concerned that the minister, despite promises to engage widely over the summer, had so far left Welsh disabled people out of discussions around the review, outside of those forum meetings.

DPAC Cymru claims that Timm’s attendance at those recent forum meetings is “far too little and far too late for Welsh disabled people after months of stonewalling from Timms,” and said they were frustrated by “more promises but no action.”

Ben Golightly, from Swansea, is a coordinator for DPAC Cymru. He told LBC, “he [Timms] agreed in that meeting that it was important for Welsh disabled people and Welsh disabled people’s organisations to be heard. He was meant to talk about how he was delivering co-production. It was his job to do it. And he had no real update, because he hasn’t been doing that job.”

Despite promises from government ministers, DPAC Cymru say that co-production has not taken place, and they are “back to square one.”

Ben said, “We had hoped that after a major defeat in parliament that when he [Timms] promised co-production with disabled people, that we wouldn’t have to go through all of this again. There is so little trust in the way the government has treated disabled people that we need an independent review, led by disabled people, and Stephen Timms and the government should turn up and listen, but they should have no say over how it’s run because they’ve shown, throughout several months, that they’re unable to do it.”

Lee Ellery, an independent disability activist and lead press coordinator for DPAC Cymru, who has Cerebral palsy quadriplegic, agreed, telling LBC news it’s time more Welsh voices were heard.

Lee said, “people with disabilities, particularly in Wales, are left to the bottom of the pile so to speak, and we should be at the forefront of everything. I’m worried about what the result of the [PIP] review might come out to say, if the person who’s leading it doesn’t understand the whole process.”

LBC news reported that “the Timms review into PIP assessments is expected to conclude in Autumn 2026, when changes already decided on for new PIP claimants will come into force.”

DPAC Cymru’s calls for an independent review, made in an open letter released last Monday, has already received wide support, collecting 600 signatures and the support of representatives of more than twenty-five organisations.

Comments collected from respondents talk about their feelings of hurt, being “belittled,” “completely disregarded and isolated,” and the “harm and loss of trust” caused by Timms and the government.

Signatures on the open letter are open until the end of September.

Sign here

We want an independent PIP review!

Action, Access to Work, All Posts, Benefits, Disability Activism, Disability Rights, DWP, Letters, local groups, News, PIP, Politics, welfare cuts, Welfare reforms 4 Responses »

Sep 012025

This is an open letter from DPAC Cymru, produced with feedback from six Disabled People’s Organisations.

Disclaimer: DPAC Cymru didn’t have time to reach 100% agreed wording with DPAC UK, as we would have liked to. Even within DPAC Cymru, the letter wording is somewhat of a compromise. However, for important tactical reasons in Wales, we felt it was important to publish without delay. DPAC have therefore agreed to share the letter with this disclaimer.

Click here for the Easy Read version.

To:

The Welsh Government,

The Scottish Government,

The Northern Ireland Executive,

The UK Government,

1st September 2025

After a major, if partial, defeat in parliament over disability cuts, the disability minister Stephen Timms promised MPs that the PIP benefit review would be co-produced by disabled people and their organisations.

There is widespread skepticism if this will genuinely be the case. Promises to “engage widely over the summer” have not been met, and there has been no transparency over Timms’ plans for “ten people” to have “a lot of sway”. His comments reveal that he does not understand what co-production means. Timms has also repeatedly declined to acknowledge the many serious failures of the Pathways to Work green paper consultation process, particularly felt in Wales.

We counterpose this to the Disability Rights Taskforce, initiated in partnership with the Welsh Government, which brought together 350 stakeholders and 200 policy experts, as a model of what co-production can look like. However, many Taskforce participants were frustrated that much of their work was ultimately missing from the Welsh Government draft plan. This is a lesson that even co-produced policy will fall flat without accountability. Disabled people’s organisations must be given the necessary resources and powers to carry out the implementation and monitoring of decisions.

[Some of us] cautiously welcome[d] the announcement of the Government’s new Independent Disability Advisory Panel. This panel is separate to, but will feed into, the Timms review of PIP. However, trust remains very low, and the terms – of “up to 10” people – have already been set for us. [See update, below]

We the undersigned demand that:

• The new Independent Disability Advisory Panel must be genuinely independent, representative, transparent, and have real powers of oversight.

• The UK government must acknowledge its failures in delivering the Pathways to Work consultation and legislative process, as a precondition to rebuilding trust and ensuring those mistakes are not repeated.

• The PIP review must be independently led by disabled people and our organisations, inviting the views of carers, volunteers, and workers in health, social care, housing, transport, and welfare.

• Any review of welfare reform must also, in a process led by disabled people, involve trade unions as democratic organisations representing 1.4 million disabled workers as well as representing the workers responsible for the day-to-day delivery of services that disabled people rely on.

• The scope of the PIP review must be widened to all aspects of welfare and employment for disabled people, guided by the principle: from each according to their ability, to each according to their need.

• Dedicated funding must be provided to Disabled Peoples Organisations to support outreach, accessible engagement, and the collection of views from disabled people, including those without internet access or digital skills.

• The devolved governments of Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland, and councils, should recognise and support this independent review even if the UK government refuses to.

• The UK government must immediately halt all cuts to disability and incapacity benefits for the duration of the review, and urgently fix Access to Work.

• Parliament must be given time to properly scrutinise any new legislation.

• The UC bill should be repealed. It is flawed, and was rushed through in an abnormal and undemocratic way.

[Update 4th September] Statement from DPAC Cymru regarding the “Independent Disability Advisory Panel”:

“The recently published terms for the so-called Independent Disability Advisory Panel, including the requirement to sign a non-disclosure agreement, are completely unacceptable. We are going to go back to a full consultation with all of our members and allies and take time for discussion to correct the weakness in our compromise wording of ‘cautiously welcome’ and come back united, realigned on the strongest possible response. We hope you will continue to support the demand for an independent PIP review, led by disabled people, and support this letter with your signature.”

For a full list of signatures and footnotes, see here.

To add your support to the letter, add your signature here

Here are short URLs for sharing the letter:

Non-Easy Read: Bit.Ly/independent-pip-review

Easy Read: Bit.Ly/easy-read-independent-pip-review