NAS – Q and A on changes to PIP Mobility

Last year, the Government changed the way that PIP (Personal Independence Payment) is assessed. The changes made it harder for people to get the PIP Mobility component if the reason they had difficulty planning or making a journey was that it caused overwhelming psychological distress.
    
Many autistic people find that making journeys can be very distressing, which can lead to people avoiding going out or being unable to make journeys. Our charity believed that this change discriminated against autistic people. We joined a legal case alongside other charities to try and overturn the changes.  The legal case was a success and you can read more about that here.
 
The Government decided not to appeal the judgment, but that means that they need to identify the people who may have missed out on getting the right support from PIP before the court case happened. To do this, the Government announced that it would review its records to find out who might be entitled to a higher PIP award.
 
Some autistic people were concerned about what this review would mean to them. We put their questions to the Government. Their answers are below: