Skip to main content
Gifts from The Morning Star
Work and Pensions select committee reveals 'baffling' benefit assessments

A DISABILITY benefit claimant was listed as “walking her dog daily” in a medical assessment, despite not owning one and being barely able to walk, MPs reported today.

The Work and Pensions select committee received nearly 4,000 submissions after calling for evidence on personal independence payment (PIP) and Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) assessments.

One claimant, Nikki, said: “Apparently I walk my dog daily, which was baffling because I can barely walk and I do not have a dog!”

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
More from this author
Britain / 17 June 2021
17 June 2021
All eight claimants say Labour acted unfairly by failing to close investigations or revoke their suspension or expulsion
Similar stories
A Universal Credit sign on a door of a job centre plus in east London
Features / 5 July 2025
5 July 2025

The government’s retreat on PIP still leaves 150,000 new universal credit claimants facing halved benefits from April 2026, creating a discriminatory two-tier welfare system that campaigners must continue fighting, writes DR DYLAN MURPHY

ELECTED TO PROTECT THE POOR: Work and Pensions Secretary Liz
Features / 2 April 2025
2 April 2025
Due to the actions of this government, the challenges facing those with disabilities, such as spinal cord injuries, are nigh on insurmountable, argus RUTH HUNT
WE WANT TO WORK: Disability activists protest previous welfa
Features / 20 March 2025
20 March 2025
By making Personal Independence Payments harder to access, Labour is creating another barrier for those already struggling with soaring care costs, workplace discrimination and prejudiced employers, argues RUTH HUNT
HARMFUL RHETORIC: Keir Starmer and Liz Kendall
Features / 3 February 2025
3 February 2025
Far from addressing the causes of ill-health and disability, Starmer, Reeves and Kendall are committed to unleashing more misery for disabled people, argues Dr DYLAN MURPHY