I’m sharing this short video because the latest evidence from the Timms Review makes something painfully clear: the rise in PIP isn’t about more people suddenly becoming disabled. It’s about what happens when the systems that are supposed to support people long before adulthood simply don’t.
Over the last decade, SEND education has been stretched to breaking point. Children have gone through school without the right diagnosis, without specialist teaching, without therapy, and without the stability they need to thrive. Those unmet needs don’t magically disappear at eighteen. They follow people into adulthood, into the workplace, and eventually into crisis.
At the same time, the NHS is struggling to diagnose people early enough. And when people are diagnosed, the ongoing support just isn’t there. Long waits, short interventions, early discharges. People deteriorate until daily life becomes unmanageable. Conditions that could have been supported, stabilised, or treated early on are left to worsen.
So when we look at the sharp rise in PIP spending, we’re not seeing a benefits issue. We’re seeing the long shadow of underfunding in SEND, the strain on the NHS, and the gaps in social care. PIP is rising because it’s picking up the pieces of everything else.
The data shows the fastest growth in PIP claims isn’t among older people; it’s among young adults and people in their thirties and forties. That alone tells the story. These are the children who didn’t get the support they needed. These are the adults who couldn’t get the diagnosis or treatment early enough. These are the people living with the consequences of systems that weren’t able to meet their needs.
PIP isn’t the problem.
PIP is the symptom.
And until we fix what comes before it — SEND, the NHS, social care — we will keep seeing the same pattern.
For anyone who wants to see the evidence behind this, the interim report is here.
