Rumours and comments from the government have been circulating for months over a Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) survey on how people spend their Personal Independence Payment (PIP). Since October last year, the corporate media has been drip feeding stories with little substance about the supposed DWP PIP research.
However, now people are coming forward saying they’ve got the survey – after a minister confirmed this week that it was going ahead. The first, and only thing, to say on this is: do NOT fill it in. How you spend your DWP PIP is none of the government’s business.
DWP PIP survey on how people spend their money: yes, it is real
As the Canary reported last October, minister for disabled people Stephen Timms referenced the DWP PIP survey in response to a written question by Poole MP Neil Duncan-Jordan.
Duncan-Jordan was querying what assessments the department had made to assess the “adequacy” of PIP for supporting the “extra costs of disability.”
As part of his reply, Timms said that:
DWP pays close attention to the evidence base on the extra costs faced by disabled people; including academic research, analysis by Scope, and DWP’s own commissioned research on the Uses of Health and Disability Benefits from 2019. In order to understand more, DWP is now undertaking a new survey of Personal Independence Payment customers to understand more about their disability related needs. This project has an advisory group of experts including representatives of the disability charity Scope and academic experts.
Fast-forward to this week, Duncan-Jordan and Timms had another DWP PIP exchange. The latter confirmed that:
DWP is now undertaking a new survey of Personal Independence Payment customers to understand more about their disability-related needs. It is expected to produce findings in Autumn 2025.
However, that was all the detail provided. Buried on the DWP website was a shred of detail. On 7 April, it announced all research programmes that were being undertaken by private companies. Listed was:
April to July 2025, Verian – Areas of extra cost survey: If you are claiming Personal Independence Payment you may be contacted to take part in research. The aim is to understand disability-related needs and assess how these translate in additional costs that claimants incur.
Now we know
Now, thanks in part to Atlanta from campaign group Disability Rebellion, people have been coming forward with the details of the survey – as Verian has already being sending it out:
Can @stephenctimms and @UKLabour confirm the reports appearing in some media outlets that the DWP is conducting a survey of PIP claimants’ spending are true or not?
Disabled people deserve to know!
If you’re disabled and have received any info about this, please let me know.
— Atlanta 🦹🏻♀️ #DisabilityRebellion (@areyoflight) April 17, 2025
Replies to Atlanta’s post included this video – where the father of a DWP PIP, ‘Disability Talk With Steve’, claimant talks the viewer through the survey:
The questions in the survey revolve around things such as spending on aids and adaptations; travel, and food. Essentially what the DWP is doing is asking people about costs for each component (task) that features in the PIP Daily Living and Mobility elements of the benefit.
Meanwhile, Verian had also sent it to other people:
This is it, if you need your memory jogged: pic.twitter.com/a20vqolg8d
— Polly Valentine 🖤 (@pvalentine592) April 17, 2025
So, the much-talked-about DWP PIP survey has arrived. However, the department is not the only one conducting this kind of survey. Campaign group There For ME, which raises awareness around the illness myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME/CFS), along with other organisations is also conducting their own survey into DWP PIP and benefits:
The UK government is proposing significant changes to welfare benefits. These reforms could profoundly impact individuals with Long Covid and ME/CFS.
We've launched a survey to gather your insight 👇 pic.twitter.com/secASe1NYi
— #ThereForME (@ThereForME_UK) April 16, 2025
This survey too, linked to a parliamentary group of MPs with an interest in ME, also asks questions on how benefit claimants spend their money.
For the avoidance of any doubt, do NOT tell either the DWP or a charity how you spend your DWP PIP money – or any benefit money for that matter.
DWP PIP survey (and the others): not benign exercises
Firstly, it is none of the DWP’s business.
Secondly, this is not a benign exercise from the government.
By tailoring the questions to be specifically around each component (task) of the DWP PIP assessment, Labour is looking for ways it can cut PIP. For example, if a lot of claimants say they spend their PIP on aids and adaptations, then the DWP could argue this should be a matter for local authorities, who already fund adaptations – ergo, they can cut that financial part of PIP.
On a side note, There For ME and the other organisations conducting their own survey’s on DWP PIP claimant’s spending habits are being useful idiots for the government. They may think that they are showing the extra costs people with ME have, to use as some sort of leverage in mitigating parts of Labour’s planned cuts. However, Keir Starmer’s government is not going to care one iota – and if There For ME’s survey gets to them, the evidence will be used against chronically ill and disabled people.
So, in short the DWP PIP survey is here – and do not fill it out. It is a phishing exercise to help give a manipulated evidence base for Labour’s cuts. Anyone thinking otherwise needs to get their heads out of the sand, and quickly.
When 1.3 million chronically ill and disabled people are facing cuts, giving Labour a helping hand in doing it is perverse, at best.
Featured image via screengrab
