The Timms Review has published its interim report, ahead of a full set of recommendations expected in Autumn 2026.
What is the Timms review?
The Timms review is a government-commissioned investigation into the Personal Independence Payment (PIP) system. PIP is a payment that Disabled people can claim to help them pay for the additional costs of living with a disability. The review came about after failed attempts to drastically cut welfare support for Disabled people in 2025.
What does it get right?
The interim report accurately identifies that the PIP system is failing Disabled people; it is dehumanising, stressful, and poorly suited to those with fluctuating conditions, such as mental ill-health. The report also acknowledges that, despite its flaws, PIP is ‘a vital lifeline, allowing independence’.
Where does it go wrong?
The report doubles down on claims that the review is ‘co-produced’ and is ‘listening to disabled people’. We are not sure how it is possible to truly listen to more than 40,000 people – as it claims – in less than 6 months. It is the boldness of the claim that makes it so untrustworthy.
It is also important to remember where this review came from: failed attempts to cut social security in 2025, which didn’t just threaten our finances but also saw our dignity and rights dragged into the national press. It is hard to believe that a review which originated in attempts to cut spending on welfare will not have the same aim.
We doubt the final report will be so brazen to refer to its recommendations at cuts. Instead, it will likely claim to offer a more streamlined and less dehumanising system.
Despite its acknowledgement that PIP is not an out of work benefit, the interim report is also let down by its overemphasis on employment. Having a job is not inherently beneficial especially for Mad and Disabled people, who have very few protections for work-based discrimination.
Despite its focus on work, the welfare system is not an employment programme; it’s about making sure that everyone, regardless of who they are, can afford to meet their basic needs. People deserve to survive irrespective of whether they are able to work.
NSUN’s position
We are concerned less about the content of the interim report, and more about what it doesn’t say, and what will come next. We strongly suspect the full report will propose cuts to PIP, dressing them up as “in our best interest”. This is not co-production, nor is it listening; it is the groundwork for cuts which will claim we asked for it.