What PIP means to me

Lili from the Changing Realities project shares her experiences of PIP ahead of the General Election.

Disability benefits, and the need to reduce spending on benefits like personal independence payment (PIP), have been talked about throughout the current election campaign. Cuts to disability benefits are often ‘invisible cuts’ - many will not see or feel the impact these cuts will have on the people affected.  

My diagnosis is Bipolar - a serious, enduring, often completely debilitating mental illness that prevents me from working and often from living a ‘normal’ life. Because of this I am in receipt of PIP, and this is the impact that it has had on my life. 

PIP has afforded me not only physical independence but allows me some financial control through the choice of how to spend the money I receive. My choices will differ from others’ as much as our symptoms, circumstances and requirements. I spend the majority on keeping our old car on the road so I can be driven to my appointments and long peaceful walks in the isolated countryside on occasional days out with my partner and dog. To me, it is worth the expense for these precious escapes to places I would not be able to access otherwise and the lasting mood boost I get from them. I also choose to spend PIP on providing better quality food for my family. We all benefit from the fresh fruit, variety of vegetables, high protein and whole grain diet recommended by my psychiatrist in my treatment plan.  

In the past PIP has paid to top up our electric meter as the extra few pounds makes the difference between me staying in bed all day to keep warm and being able to get up because we can put the heater on for an hour or two. I have bought seeds and gardening supplies and gained a sense of achievement for growing a few of my own veg. Gardening gets me outdoors but allows me to be alone somewhere I feel safe. I have purchased wool, learned a new skill and found a new hobby in crochet. With simple craft supplies I create my own individual art therapy sessions, as organised groups have proved too stressful to be therapeutic for me. Receiving PIP has also enabled me to purchase second hand books by post, essential oils, baking ingredients, replacement walking boots, home broadband, and I saved up for a desk to write and craft at. These things cost relatively little but are priceless in the opportunities they provide in my periods of recovery. I can offer a handmade gift at family birthdays, invite a friend over to try a homemade cake and a chat, offer free plants that I have grown from seed to my neighbours - they all allow me to give something back, to hold my head slightly higher, to have experiences I want to share and give me a topic of conversation I am comfortable with.  

Current levels of Universal Credit leave millions of claimants in deep poverty. Surviving long term on less than £10 per day is gruelling, isolating and rapidly destroys mental and physical health. I see my PIP as being the top up, that I am unable to earn through work, required to make a bare existence into a life worth living. It enables me to engage in activities that make my life bearable, that keep me going forward and to keep a semblance of normality in our family life.  

One of the proposals on the table for PIP, are for people to receive payment in vouchers. How would a voucher pay for needs as varied as getting shopping delivered, covering the bedroom tax for a spare room used for treatment and storing medical equipment, taxi fare, a mobility scooter, gym membership, a cinema trip, a day out for carer respite, joining a craft group, a weekly bunch of flowers, extra electricity top up, paying for coffee and cake enjoyed with a friend, redecorating a living room, swimming lessons or a therapy session? Who, if not ourselves, decides which are beneficial and therefore permitted to PIP claimants? Who would benefit from removing our independence, our right to determine our own priorities and decide the treatments and activities that benefit us as individuals the most and that PIP payments go some way to paying for?.  

If the need for PIP has increased in recent years the new government should investigate why this is so, then prioritise meeting not only the financial needs of people with disabilities and long term health conditions, but begin to address the root causes of the increasing levels of ill health in the UK population.  Could a new government admit that it is not only that levels of illness but also that levels of poverty have escalated and pushed those with illnesses and disabilities to seek escape from the misery of deep poverty they are much more likely to experience? 

Lili, Changing Realities.

Changing Realities is a partnership between parents and carers, the universities of York and Salford and Child Poverty Action Group. The project is documenting and working to change life on a low income during this cost-of-living crisis. We are working directly with parents and carers who are most impacted by low incomes, and push for urgent reform of social security. You can read more about the project on the Changing Realities website.