What does it feel like to have to prove, again and again, how your disability affects your everyday life, just to get the support you need?

For members of our Amplify Disability and Social Security (PIP) group, experiences of the benefits system have too often been stressful and dehumanising. Forms, assessments and repeatedly having to explain intimate details of daily life can leave people feeling as though the system has lost sight of the person at the centre of it.

The group came together to share those experiences, but also to ask a bigger question: what could PIP look like if dignity, empathy, and understanding were built into the system?

Our learning

Over the past year (2025-2026), members have taken those conversations into opportunities to influence change. When the government launched its Pathways to Work consultation in 2025, the group developed a collective response, drawing on first-hand experiences of the benefits system and identifying what needed to change. When the Timms Review of PIP followed, the group decided to respond differently.

In May 2026, members came together in the North East for a Theatre of the Oppressed-style workshop. Through movement, drama and discussion, they explored what navigating PIP can feel like, and what the experience could look like if people were treated with greater dignity and understanding.

A film of the workshop was submitted to the Timms Review alongside a written response, while other members of the group took part in a further Theatre of the Oppressed event in Lincoln.

When the Timms Review published its Interim Report in July (2026), its emerging findings reflected a number of concerns the group had been raising, including problems with the way PIP is designed and delivered and the experience of going through assessments.

As this stage of the group’s work comes to an end, members have been reflecting on what they’ve learned, what they’ve contributed and, importantly, what they hope will change.

To read the reflections, click on each individual below.