What's the difference between DLA and PIP
My view
by Gary Vaux
The difference lies in how it is assessed and what you can get. DLA care was assessed according to what help you needed with either personal care or supervision to prevent danger to yourself; and you got a higher rate if you needed help day and night. You got the middle rate if you needed help day or night. There was also a lower rate for people who needed help less frequently or who were unable to cook. It was never about what illness you had. The decisions were more often based on your application form and your evidence than on a face to face assessment by a private contractor. PIP did away with the lower rate altogether.
The rules on Mobility were also changed, including the distance that you were able to walk (200m down to 50m). For both parts of PIP the "point-scoring" system was introduced as a supposedly "objective" means of assessing your needs. But that was a lie.
From the outset, PIP was intended to reach 20% fewer people and cost 20% less. It was part of the cost-cutting austerity measures introduced by the Coalition.
It's now doing exactly what it was intended to do.....taking money away from people who used to get DLA.
The change of name and the change in the assessment is little more than a smokescreen .....in pretty much all aspects, PIP is still DLA but just with tougher rules as to who qualifies and how much they get. But if the Coalition had said 'we're going to cut the main disability benefit and make it harder to claim' there would have been more of an outcry at the time By changing the name and giving it the pretence of a new more accurate assessment, they got away with it, at least until they'd achieved their goal of reducing the number of claimants in order to save money to spend on pointless wars and tax cuts for the rich.