Welfare Reform Bill

My Lords, the noble Baroness is seeking to replace the name ““personal independence payment”” with ““disability living costs allowance””. We have also had my noble friend’s suggestion that we replace it with ““personal disability costs payment””. I am very grateful for all the contributions on this genuinely important issue. Before dealing with the noble Baroness’s amendment, I should like to take the opportunity to talk about why we are reforming the disability living allowance and the Government’s policy intentions that underpin the personal independence payment. We believe that now is the right time to replace DLA by creating an affordable and sustainable system to support those disabled people who experience the greatest barriers to living full, active and independent lives. DLA has failed to keep pace with the changing approach to disability in society. It lacks consistency in the way it supports disabled people with similar needs, and we know from feedback received from claimants and their representatives that the application process is unduly complex. Personal independence payment will be different from its predecessor. It will be a more dynamic, objectively assessed and transparent benefit based upon people’s daily living and/or mobility needs. It will consider the impact an individual’s impairment or health condition has on their daily life. It will take account of changes in individual circumstances and in the impact of underlying disabilities. It will reflect the wider changes in society that have taken place since 1992, when DLA was introduced, such as social attitudes, advances in aids and adaptations, and equality legislation. We will prioritise support on those individuals who face the greatest day-to-day challenges and who are therefore likely to experience higher costs. The changes we are making through the introduction of personal independence payment will ensure that the benefit remains sustainable for the future. Currently, 3.2 million people receive DLA. This is an increase of around 30 per cent in the past eight years and it is important to note that for the DLA caseload overall only around one-third of that 30 per cent growth can be attributed to demographic factors. Personal independence payment will not be linked to an individual’s impairment, but will instead focus on the ability of an individual to carry out a range of activities necessary for everyday life and the extra costs arising because of their impairment. It will be payable to people who are in work as well as to those who are out of work. Turning to the noble Baroness’s amendment, the name ““personal independence payment”” is intended to communicate the purpose of a benefit that continues to make a contribution to the extra costs that some disabled people face to help them to lead full, active and independent lives. I can reassure the noble Baroness that we have not yet incurred artwork costs for personal independence payment, nor, I need to confess, did we invest heavily in private sector consultants to come up with options for the change of name. I guess one can be excoriated and congratulated on both those facts. Before announcing our plans for personal independence payment, we conducted a series of focus group sessions in which we were able to discuss the name of the new benefit. People felt that the word ““disability””, although broadly understood and accepted as an umbrella term, was generally seen as relating to physical disability and was a more difficult term for mental health conditions. As noble Lords know, one of the big changes in personal independence payment is the swing in favour of people with mental health conditions. ““Living”” was felt simply to imply existing or surviving, and ‘allowance’ was deemed to be old-fashioned and paternalistic, as my noble friend Lord Skelmersdale suggested. It was because of these negative connotations that we decided, as part of the reform of DLA, to rename the benefit. Clearly, people will continue to have mixed views on the name ““personal independence payment””, but it has found favour in many quarters. Through the DLA reform consultation, we received some positive comments on the new name for the benefit. I will quote one correspondent—if I do not, I suspect that no one else in the Committee will—who stated: "““I love the new name””," and added that it seemed, "““more dignified than being given an ‘allowance’ for being disabled””." We have always been clear that we will have greater regard for the social model when reforming DLA. The name ““personal independence payment”” reflects that intent rather than focusing on medical model terminology. It is clear that noble Lords have differing views on the name of the benefit. I emphasise that our view is that ““personal independence payment”” reflects the principles and intention of the benefit. However, having heard the debate today, I am happy to take back noble Lords’ views, which were put very powerfully, to the Minister for Disabled People. I will ask her to consider how we might seek further feedback from disabled people on the proposed name. On that basis, I urge the noble Baroness to withdraw the amendment.