Disability Data
In the week of the Parliamentary vote concerning the government’s proposals for changes to disability benefits, the TaxPayers’ Alliance (TPA) has released figures showing respective numbers of working age recipients of Personal Independence Payments (PIPs) and of children awarded Disability Living Allowance (DLAs). The data have been compiled both nationally and locally.
They reveal that in January 2019 there were 3,822 PIP recipients in the borough of Hastings. By April this year that figure had more than doubled to 7,654. That’s a percentage rise, according to the TPA analysis, from 6.8% of the relevant population to 13.7%.
This pattern is repeated in the district of Rother from a lower base, the number of recipients rising from 2,588 (5.3%) in January 2019 to 5,501 (11%) in April 2025.
The DLA figures, compiled between May 2018 and November 2024, show similarly steep rises in numbers of Hastings children in receipt. Over six years they have risen from 851 to 1,490, a 75% increase; in Rother, there’s been a more than doubling from 553 to 1,209.
No explanation of these figures is offered by the TPA, but a breakdown of disabilities giving rise to enhanced mobility claims within PIPs show that ‘psychiatric disorders’ and ‘neurological disease’ account for the majority of claims and the biggest increases.
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