Stephen Timms Has No Answer for How PIP Changes Will Impact People with Mental Illness — So I Wrote Him One
This blog is written by May - a PIP recipient and Senior Organiser at Just Treatment.
Our Mad Youth Organise campaign recently hosted a parliamentary drop-in to give MPs the chance to listen directly to young people with severe mental illness — many of whom, like me, receive Personal Independence Payment (PIP).
We invited Sir Stephen Timms, Chair of the Work and Pensions Select Committee. He didn’t show up. He hasn’t replied to a single one of our invitations or messages.
So when Martin Wrigley MP asked our straightforward, vital question — what assessment has been made of the impact of changes to PIP on the health and economic security of people with mental illness? — we expected, at minimum, a serious and specific answer.
Instead, Sir Stephen replied:
“No such assessment has been made.”
Then he went on to explain that PIP will be refocused on those with the “greatest functional need,” meaning those who are completely unable to carry out activities, or need the most help from others. He repeated that PIP is not based on diagnosis but on “functional disability,” and added that the government is consulting on how best to support those affected.
This is terrifying for people like me.
I live with severe mental illness. I work. And I only manage to work because of the support that PIP provides. My ability to function is not static. I can speak at international events one week and be incapacitated the next. This is not rare — this is what mental illness often looks like. It fluctuates.
Removing my PIP because I am not permanently and visibly “non-functional” would take away the very thing that keeps me afloat — and force me out of work. If that’s what this government is proposing, then at least have the honesty to say it.
So, I wrote to Sir Stephen Timms myself. Here’s what I told him:
3 June 2025
Rt Hon Sir Stephen Timms MP
Chair, Work and Pensions Select Committee
House of Commons
London SW1A 0AA
Dear Sir Stephen Timms,
Re: Your Response to Written Question 53724 on PIP Reform
I am writing to you as an award winning youth mental health campaigner whose work has been recognised by the UN — and as a person living with severe mental illness who depends on Personal Independence Payment (PIP) to live and stay in work.
Your response to Martin Wrigley MP’s question was deeply alarming. You stated that no assessment has been made of how proposed changes to PIP will impact the health or economic security of people with mental illness — even as you outlined plans to tighten eligibility around “functional need.”
This is precisely the problem. These reforms are being shaped without any meaningful understanding of how mental illness works. Mental illness fluctuates. It is not always visible. It cannot be judged through a binary lens of who can or cannot “complete activities.” And it certainly cannot be assessed fairly without listening to those of us who live with it every single day.
I work. I campaign. I do what I can — because I receive PIP. Without it, I will not be able to continue. The idea that I might be too functional to qualify is not only absurd — it’s dangerous. These reforms risk pushing thousands of us off the cliff edge and into crisis.
You also referenced future consultations and a forthcoming review that you yourself will lead. But how can we have faith in that process when your response already demonstrates a lack of serious engagement with the lived realities of people with mental illness?
As Chair of the Work and Pensions Select Committee, you have a responsibility not only to examine policy but to examine its consequences — especially for those most likely to be harmed.
I am asking you to:
Push for an immediate impact assessment on how proposed PIP reforms will affect people with mental illness;
Acknowledge that functional capacity is not a stable or sufficient measure of mental health need;
Meet with young people like myself — those directly affected — before more damage is done.
We held a parliamentary drop-in to share our stories with MPs. You were invited. You didn’t attend. We followed up. You didn’t respond. And now you’ve confirmed that no one in government has asked the most basic question: what will this do to people like us?
You now have the chance — and the responsibility — to change that.
Sincerely,
May Gabriel
Award-Winning Youth Mental Health Campaigner
PIP Recipient