18th March 2025

Responding to the UK Government's proposals for welfare reform, Billy Watson, Chief Executive of SAMH (Scottish Action for Mental Health), said:

“By explicitly choosing to make the Personal Independence Payment available to fewer disabled people for budgetary reasons, the UK Government is choosing to make the lives of people with mental health problems harder.

“Although PIP has been replaced in Scotland by the Adult Disability Payment, we are concerned that narrower eligibility for PIP in the rest of the UK will mean that the UK Government will in time consider that PIP and ADP are no longer equivalent. This could mean that ADP will no longer provide access to other UK benefits which, along with a reduced block grant for social security, will impact on disabled people in Scotland.

“Punishing disabled people economically will not create growth and will cost more in the long term by increasing pressure on health services. The UK Government must not go ahead with these plans as they stand.”