Disabled Campaigners and Charities Renew Call for Transparency and Representation in Timms Review

26 February 2026

Over 40 disabled people’s organisations and charities have issued an open letter to the Timms Review Steering Group, calling for strong representation of people who rely on both Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and means-tested benefits, including Universal Credit, and for clear guarantees that the Review will operate transparently.

The letter has been coordinated by anti-poverty charity Z2K, in partnership with the charity Turn2us. It is signed by non-profit organisations and disabled people, including Disability Rights UK, Mind, Mencap, Trussell, and Disability Benefits Consortium, and follows an earlier joint intervention by a coalition of charities in August 2025 urging the government to ensure the Timms Review was inclusive, transparent and genuinely shaped by lived experience.

Signatories respond to the membership of the Steering Group, announced earlier this month, by calling on the Review to ensure it reflects the experiences of disabled people who rely on both PIP and means-tested benefits to meet essential living costs, who represent the majority of those who stand to be impacted by the Review.

The open letter argues that wider engagement is crucial, and also calls on the Steering Group to make firm commitments to transparency by:

Publishing meeting agendas, workplans and high-level anonymised minutes
Publishing Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) analysis or data shared with the Steering Group
Publishing written evidence submitted as part of any call for evidence

The signatories state that these steps would help build confidence among disabled people and ensure the Review is open, accountable and rooted in lived experience.

A disabled person who receives both PIP and Universal Credit to support basic life activities and campaigns with Z2K, signed the letter said:

“For people like me, PIP is not an abstract policy issue. It is what keeps us safe, housed, warm, and able to cope. When a process is presented as fair, transparent and grounded in lived experience, but I cannot see people who rely on PIP to survive reflected at steering level, it creates a deep unease.”

The organisations and individual signatories have asked for the letter to be shared with all members of the Timms Review Steering Group and say they are committed to working constructively with the Review to support reforms that disabled people can trust.

About Z2K (Zacchaeus 2000 Trust)

Z2K is a leading anti-poverty charity working to end UK poverty through frontline advice, representation services, and campaigning. The organisation works to secure a fairer social security system and ensure people experiencing poverty have their voices heard in policy development.

Media enquiries: communications@z2k.org

About Turn2us

Turn2us is a national charity providing practical help to people facing financial insecurity. Through information, grants and policy work, Turn2us supports people to access the financial support to which they are entitled and works to tackle the structural causes of poverty in the UK.

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