The Timms review has begun appointing members to its steering group after receiving over 340 applications, according to a co-chair update issued before Christmas. But there are huge questions marks over how adequate the time set aside for the review will be.
The co-chairs say that the majority of steering group members will be disabled people or representatives of Disabled People’s Organisations (DPOs) and that they are in the process of shortlisting 12 candidates.
Once candidates have been appointed, there will be:
- an informal introductory call with the steering group
- induction sessions in January 2026
- the beginning of deeper co-production and policy work from February onwards.
The co-chairs are also commissioning an external organisation “to help and support design and facilitate the co-production programme.”
They also say that the steering group will not work alone, but will “will work with its members to design a wider programme of participation that ensures a full range of voices, experiences, and views can meaningfully shape the Review’s work.”
However, the reality remains that the steering committee members are required to commit just five days a month to the work and to produce a final set of recommendations by Autumn 2026.
Assuming a deadline of the end of November 2026, at the latest, members have just 50 working days to review and potentially redesign PIP and quite possibly incorporate elements of the work capability assessment (WCA) - if the WCA is still to be abolished – into a new system.
These are changes that will affect many millions of disabled people over the coming years.
Steering group member will have to design a “programme of participation” with other individuals and organisations, wait to receive their feedback and then consider it.
There will also be reports from various bodies that the government will want to feed into the Timms review, such as Streeting’s review of whether mental health and neurodivergent conditions are being overdiagnosed.
So, there will be a huge number of views and reports to consider, many of which will not be available for months. These will need to be fully discussed and the many views, often opposing, forged into a viable and carefully considered assessment system, with a finished product created in the equivalent of just two and a half months of full-time work.
That such a mammoth task could be completed in such a short space of time seems beyond improbable.
In reality, either the committee members are going to be working every hour between now and Autumn 2026, most of it unpaid and unsupported, or the vast majority of the work will be done by DWP civil servants, with committee members simply presented with summaries and suggested solutions to consider during their woefully inadequate working hours.
You can read the full December Timms Review co-chairs report here.
