UK Shakes Up Disability Benefits: DWP’s New 13-Week PIP Transition
A huge shift is coming to the Personal Independence Payment (PIP) system, and it has many disabled people and their carers watching closely. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has now confirmed a 13-week transition period for anyone who finds themselves losing the daily living component of PIP under a new scoring system set to land in November 2026.
Until now, people moving off one benefit to another only got four weeks to adapt. This extra time—13 weeks—might sound like a simple change, but for thousands who rely on these benefits for daily essentials such as food and care, it's a significant development.
How Will the Rules Change?
This isn’t just about buying people more time. The root of the change is in how eligibility is worked out. From November 2026, you’ll need four points in a single activity (like preparing food or washing) to qualify for the daily living part of PIP. In the old days, those points could be spread across several daily activities. Now, if your disabilities or health problems don’t stack up to four points in at least one specific area, you’re out.
That tighter scoring is expected to hit a huge chunk of claimants. DWP says around 800,000 disabled people may lose their eligibility by 2030. Those are staggering numbers—an entire city’s worth of people potentially affected by a tweak to scoring sheets. And since PIP awards swelled from 13,000 a month before COVID to about 34,000 each month now, it’s no surprise the government is stepping on the brakes to control costs.
Who exactly is in the firing line? Obviously, many current receivers of the daily living component. But it doesn’t stop there. Carers who rely on Carer’s Allowance or the Universal Credit carer’s element get drawn in as well. If the disabled person they care for loses the daily living part, that support could vanish too. However, those only drawing PIP’s mobility component or on Universal Credit but not using the carer’s element won’t see a change—at least not from these rules.
For people at risk, the DWP says this 13-week buffer is meant to help them ‘adapt, plan their future, and access new support.’ That sounds practical on paper. In reality, it gives desperately needed breathing room for families scrambling to figure out finances, line up work, or start an appeal.
That’s important. During this period, recipients can try for tailored employment help the DWP promises, make an official challenge (through a mandatory reconsideration), or even take the loss of benefits to a tribunal. Those appeals routes will probably see a big uptick as people test the stricter rules against their own situations.
Is there any relief for mobility? For now, yes—the PIP mobility component hasn’t changed with these tweaks. If you get PIP only for difficulties moving around, nothing shifts in 2026, at least based on current plans. But if you’re a carer, or get help with daily tasks but don’t score enough points under the new scoring, the countdown clock now stretches to 13 weeks before payments stop.
This all comes as a response to both budget pressures and soaring numbers of PIP claims, and the government’s clear aim to rein in how much it spends on disability payments. Advocates are already warning that this could leave many thousands in a lurch, especially if appeals overload the system or if employment support fails to materialize fast enough.
Either way, the rules of the game are changing. The impact will ripple well into the next decade, and everyone in the system—carers, claimants, advocates, and even the DWP—will be watching closely as November 2026 draws near.
