Warrington North Labour MP Charlotte Nichols shares her views in this week’s column.

AS the Commons returns this week (finally, after barely any sitting days since June), we had a chance to see the government’s agenda for its final year until the General Election.

Among the things missing from what must be the thinnest King’s Speech ever, was long overdue reform of Personal Independence Payments.

PIP has now existed for ten years, and its flaws are well known and really impact people who need support.

As I raised at the last Prime Minister’s Questions, people with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and many other conditions are routinely failed by PIP assessments because their symptoms fluctuate from day to day.

All too often this means that they are denied the support to manage the extra costs that they face in trying to live their lives like adapted vehicles or mobility aids which is the entire point of PIP, leaving them in hardship, especially now when the cost of living is so difficult.

PIP also does not consider chronic pain or fatigue, and the flawed assessment process is itself a cause of stress and anxiety for too many people who are already struggling.

Issues with PIP are one of the casework issues I am contacted about the most, and while my team and I have a good track record with appeals and getting people the help they are entitled to, I worry for those who may be suffering in silence - particularly at a time when services like Citizen's Advice Bureau and charities that offer support are at breaking point.

The DWP lose 70% of cases they reject on appeal, and in around 91% of cases the claimant won without any new evidence being provided. Getting the process right means that those who need help are not subjected to a dehumanising and often arbitrary process to get the help they are entitled to, and would mean valuable civil service time was not spent fighting clearly legitimate claimants.

The ten year anniversary of PIP is surely an appropriate time to review this and make sensible and supportive changes, which is what over 20,000 people with MS have called for in a petition to the government. As Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for MS, I am already working with the MS Society and other disability charities nationally, and with local campaigners with MS like Rob Denholm, to drive this agenda forward.

I am still awaiting a reply from the Work and Pensions Secretary that the Prime Minister promised me, but it would have been a genuinely welcome reform if this was announced in the King’s Speech.

With the polls indicating that Rishi Sunak’s time as Prime Minister may be running out, this would at least be a legacy to be proud of, and something I will keep fighting for in the time we have left of this session.