Focus Group for PIP replacement consultation

The Commission on Social Security is a project which began in 2018 and since then has been led by Experts by Experience - meaning people who have direct experience of the social security system - to develop a plan for a better social security system.

The Commission is committed to the principle that those directly impacted by policy need to be at the centre of developing that policy. In practice this means working to maximise co-production and putting experts by experience at the centre of producing and making decisions.

Following several public consultations the Commission published our Plan for a better social security system in 2022.Some of the proposals needed further work, including the proposals in the plan relating to replacing Personal Independence Payment (PIP). 

After a project hiatus 2023-24, the Commission is now consulting on a proposal we have developed for an Additional Cost Disability Payment to replace PIP. We are keen for as many people to be involved in this as possible. There are two main ways to do this. One is to complete an online survey. This can be found here. If this is not accessible to you and you would prefer to email your thoughts, please let us know so at: [email protected] and we can email you our proposal to give feedback on.

As well as our online survey we are also going to be holding 6 focus groups. These will take place online, via Zoom. We hope the focus groups will allow for some in-depth discussions about our proposal. Focus group participants will receive £30 high street vouchers after they have taken part in a session. Focus groups will be small (maximum 10 people per session) to allow for a full discussion. We appreciate this consultation won’t be accessible to everyone. We are a small project with limited resources but if there’s a way we can support your involvement please email us at [email protected] 

British Sign Language will be arranged for two focus group sessions - 7th March and 14th March. If you are a BSL user and there are no tickets left for these sessions, please contact us at [email protected]  and we will arrange for you to join.

Focus group dates are as follows:

Wednesday 19th March 2-4pm

Thursday 27th March 2-4pm

Monday 3rd March 11am-1pm

Friday 7th March 2-4pm (BSL interpretation for this session)

Monday 10th March 11am-1pm 

Friday 14th March 2-4pm (BSL interpretation for this session)

Host or Publisher Commission on Social Security