Personal Independence Payment (PIP) awards, including the rate payable and the duration, are set on an individual basis, based on the claimant’s needs and the likelihood of those needs changing. Regular reviews are a key feature of the benefit and ensure that payments accurately match the current needs of claimants. Award durations can vary from nine months to an on-going award, with a light touch review at the ten-year point.

Since 6 April 2026 we have reduced the frequency of repeated reviews in PIP. For most claimants over 25, their first review will be a minimum of 3 years and, assuming they remain entitled, 5 years for their next review. The reduction in frequency ensures claimants receive the right level of award while removing pressure from claimants whose needs rarely change at each review. This will make the system more efficient and will enable us to increase the number of WCA reassessments and the proportion of PIP/WCA health assessments conducted face-to-face.

We know PIP can be improved, which is why we launched the Timms Review, which is being co-produced with disabled people and their organisations to ensure the benefit is fair and fit for the future. We ran a Call for Evidence that closed on the 28 May, and the responses are currently being analysed with a summary to be published shortly alongside an interim report. We have also outlined a varied approach to evidence gathering so people can share their views on how the benefit should be reformed.

Armed Forces Compensation Scheme (AFCS) awards do not require recurring eligibility assessments.

For serious and permanent injuries, including amputation, the AFCS is designed to make full and final awards as early as possible once the condition has stabilised. This provides long-term financial certainty and allows individuals to focus on their recovery and future.

Once a final award has been made, it is not subject to ongoing reassessment. Reviews are available in limited circumstances, such as where there is unexpected and exceptional deterioration in the condition.

The Department of Health and Social Care works closely with the Department for Education to support the availability of a diverse range of training routes into health and care careers including prosthetics and orthotics. While the Government is committed to ensuring sustainable training pathways for the future supply of prosthetics and orthotists, higher education institutions are independent providers and are responsible for making their own decisions about course delivery and viability.

The Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England remain committed to working with stakeholders through NHS England’s small and vulnerable professions programme, to help maintain and strengthen training and education pathways for pre-registration learners. This work has been supported recently with a meeting between myself and the British Association of Prosthetics and Orthotics to discuss strengthening a sustainable training and workforce pipeline.

The Department of Health and Social Care works closely with the Department for Education to support the availability of a diverse range of training routes into health and care careers including prosthetics and orthotics. While the Government is committed to ensuring sustainable training pathways for the future supply of prosthetics and orthotists, higher education institutions are independent providers and are responsible for making their own decisions about course delivery and viability.

The Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England remain committed to working with stakeholders through NHS England’s small and vulnerable professions programme, to help maintain and strengthen training and education pathways for pre-registration learners. This work has been supported recently with a meeting between myself and the British Association of Prosthetics and Orthotics to discuss strengthening a sustainable training and workforce pipeline.

The Government is committed to publishing a 10 Year Workforce Plan to set out action to create a workforce ready to deliver the transformed service set out in the 10-Year Health Plan. The 10 Year Workforce Plan will ensure the National Health Service has the right people in the right places, with the right skills to care for patients, when they need it. We are working through how the plan will articulate the changes for different professional groups.

The Department of Health and Social Care, the National Health Service, and the Ministry of Defence continue to ensure health services, including prosthetic and orthotic services, can respond effectively to meet the demands of conflict situations through regularly reviewing system-wide capacity.

The Department of Health and Social Care’s commitment to longer term workforce planning through the 10 Year Workforce Plan will also ensure that the NHS has the right people in the right places, with the right skills to care for patients, when they need it.

The Department of Health and Social Care, the National Health Service, and the Ministry of Defence continue to ensure health services, including prosthetic and orthotic services, can respond effectively to meet the demands of conflict situations through regularly reviewing system-wide capacity.

The Department of Health and Social Care’s commitment to longer term workforce planning through the 10 Year Workforce Plan will also ensure that the NHS has the right people in the right places, with the right skills to care for patients, when they need it.

As a small and vulnerable profession, course closures or reductions pose a considerable risk to the future supply of prosthetists and orthotists.

The Department of Health and Social Care works closely with the Department for Education to support the availability of a diverse range of training routes into health and care careers. While the Government is committed to ensuring sustainable training pathways for the future supply of prosthetics and orthotists, higher education institutions are independent providers and are responsible for making their own decisions about course delivery and viability.

NHS England has a focussed programme for small and vulnerable professions, including prosthetics and orthotics, and has recently commissioned the British Association of Prosthetists and Orthotists to help maintain and strengthen training and education pathways for pre‑registration learners.

Prosthetics is a specialised service, with commissioning transferring to integrated care boards on 1 April 2025, ensuring service providers must adhere to the national service specification and national clinical commissioning policies. Orthotic services are locally commissioned by integrated care boards or National Health Service trusts. It is the responsibility of local employers to ensure they have the right people with the right skills to meet local population needs. The Department remains committed to working with stakeholders, including the British Association of Prosthetics and Orthotics, to support service improvements and meet patient demand.

No such assessment has been made. The commissioning and delivery of orthotic services are devolved matters. In England, responsibility rests with local integrated care boards and National Health Service trusts in line with the non-specialised commissioning status of orthotic services. In 2015, NHS England introduced national guidance to support more consistent and higher-quality orthotics provision.

Higher education institutions are independent providers and are responsible for making their own decisions about course delivery and viability based on learner demand and provider capacity.

NHS England continues to work closely with the British Association of Prosthetics and Orthotics and education providers to maintain and strengthen training pathways, including apprenticeship routes, for learners into these courses.

Higher education institutions are independent providers and are responsible for making their own decisions about course delivery and viability based on learner demand and provider capacity.

NHS England continues to work closely with the British Association of Prosthetics and Orthotics and education providers to maintain and strengthen training pathways, including apprenticeship routes, for learners into these courses.

The department works closely with the Department for Health and Social Care to support the availability of a diverse range of training routes into health and care careers. We have worked with the health and care sector to design the Level 6 prosthetics and orthotics and Level 6 therapeutic radiography standards. These are approved for delivery and information about these standards, including funding bands, is published here and here.

Apprenticeship providers are independent bodies responsible for making their own decisions about which courses they deliver.

The UK is an active and committed member of the UN Security Council Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict, which leads the international response to grave violations against children in conflict. The UK is providing further funding of £450,000 to United Nations International Child's Fund's (UNICEF) Monitoring and Reporting Mechanism this year, ensuring grave violations against children are recorded and perpetrators are held to account. Since April 2024, the UK has supported the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) with £1.4 million in funding to provide Emergency Ordnance Risk Education Services (EORE) in Sudan, including to Sudanese children. Wherever possible, the UK provides Victim Assistance referrals for medical care and rehabilitation as part of its demining support.

NHS Supply Chain manages a framework agreement for the provision of external breast prosthesis and chest support garments, only which was renewed in November 2024. The framework provides the breadth of products available to meet National Health Service trusts and/or foundation trusts assessment and patient choice requirements.

The product ranges on the framework include a variety of materials, types, shapes, sizes, and colours to meet diverse needs, and all suppliers have some product ranges available in more than one colour. Some products are better suited to exercise and swimming, but the provision of a prosthesis is limited to a softie, which is textile based, immediately after surgery and a silicone based prosthesis once wounds have healed.

NHS trusts and foundation trusts are responsible for their own procurement activity to meet the requirements of their patients and clinicians. NHS England has a list of approved regional and national frameworks that NHS provider organisations can use, and they are encouraged to buy from a framework if it catalogues the particular product or service.

The accreditation standards required to be on the list cover a range of areas, from minimum contractual terms and conditions, robust supplier appointment and value for money assessment processes, through to the sharing of commercial and commission data with NHS England.  Details and the list of accredited host organisations can be found at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/system-guidance-for-the-implementation-of-framework-host-management/

NHS Supply Chain is on this list and is the main supplier of goods and services into the NHS.

NHS Supply Chain manages a framework agreement for the provision of external breast prosthesis and chest support garments, only which was renewed in November 2024. The framework provides the breadth of products available to meet National Health Service trusts and/or foundation trusts assessment and patient choice requirements.

The product ranges on the framework include a variety of materials, types, shapes, sizes, and colours to meet diverse needs, and all suppliers have some product ranges available in more than one colour. Some products are better suited to exercise and swimming, but the provision of a prosthesis is limited to a softie, which is textile based, immediately after surgery and a silicone based prosthesis once wounds have healed.

NHS trusts and foundation trusts are responsible for their own procurement activity to meet the requirements of their patients and clinicians. NHS England has a list of approved regional and national frameworks that NHS provider organisations can use, and they are encouraged to buy from a framework if it catalogues the particular product or service.

The accreditation standards required to be on the list cover a range of areas, from minimum contractual terms and conditions, robust supplier appointment and value for money assessment processes, through to the sharing of commercial and commission data with NHS England.  Details and the list of accredited host organisations can be found at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/system-guidance-for-the-implementation-of-framework-host-management/

NHS Supply Chain is on this list and is the main supplier of goods and services into the NHS.

The Department and the National Health Service in England recognise that there are particular challenges for specific groups of people and for breast cancer care, particularly concerning the promotion of inclusive wigs and prosthetic services.

For wigs and accessories, NHS Supply Chain has conducted extensive engagement nationally to fully understand the provision and supply and is working closely with industry groups to support access to the wigs framework, to provide a wider range of products for NHS providers to access. Appropriateness for the wearer has been one of the fundamental focus areas of consideration in this work.

Decisions about the funding and provision of health services, including prosthetic services, are the responsibility of local integrated care boards. NHS England funded audits into primary and metastatic breast cancer to help identify and reduce inequalities and variations in care. Using routine data collected on patients diagnosed with breast cancer in an NHS setting, the audits bring together information to look at what is being done well, where it is being done well, and what needs to be done better. Findings were published in September 2025, and the NHS is acting on the findings.

The current NHS Supply Chain Wigs Framework Agreement was awarded to 42 suppliers and provides a range of wigs, both real and synthetic, and headwear products to provide alternative choices to patients, as well as maintenance, styling, alteration, and repair services.

Whilst there is availability of Afro Caribbean wigs through the currently awarded suppliers, NHS Supply Chain is aware that due to the regionality of suppliers and the nature of them being predominantly micro and small to medium enterprises in many instances, patient choice and access across the United Kingdom can be subject to regional variation.

NHS Supply Chain acknowledges that there is a need to develop the framework offering to support an increase in accessibility to patients for Afro Caribbean products and services, and NHS Supply Chain is preparing to introduce enhanced specifications and a specific category for Afro Caribbean for the successor framework agreement due to launch on 1 February 2027.

NHS Supply Chain’s new Prosthetics, Components and Associated products Framework Agreement is due to launch on 24 November 2025, to replace the current Artificial Limbs framework. The new framework will offer over 95,000 products delivered by 12 suppliers to provide clinical choice to meet patient need. Ensuring that a patient has a prosthetic limb which blends with their actual skin tone is part of the routine standard of care. NHS Supply Chain works closely with the leading national charities and has not had any issues raised concerning accessing appropriate skin tone.

The current NHS Supply Chain Wigs Framework Agreement was awarded to 42 suppliers and provides a range of wigs, both real and synthetic, and headwear products to provide alternative choices to patients, as well as maintenance, styling, alteration, and repair services.

Whilst there is availability of Afro Caribbean wigs through the currently awarded suppliers, NHS Supply Chain is aware that due to the regionality of suppliers and the nature of them being predominantly micro and small to medium enterprises in many instances, patient choice and access across the United Kingdom can be subject to regional variation.

NHS Supply Chain acknowledges that there is a need to develop the framework offering to support an increase in accessibility to patients for Afro Caribbean products and services, and NHS Supply Chain is preparing to introduce enhanced specifications and a specific category for Afro Caribbean for the successor framework agreement due to launch on 1 February 2027.

NHS Supply Chain’s new Prosthetics, Components and Associated products Framework Agreement is due to launch on 24 November 2025, to replace the current Artificial Limbs framework. The new framework will offer over 95,000 products delivered by 12 suppliers to provide clinical choice to meet patient need. Ensuring that a patient has a prosthetic limb which blends with their actual skin tone is part of the routine standard of care. NHS Supply Chain works closely with the leading national charities and has not had any issues raised concerning accessing appropriate skin tone.

The Government support the bionics and advanced prosthetics industry by funding end-to-end innovation, from early-stage research and development to clinical trials and evidence generation, via Innovate UK and the National Institute of Health and Social Care Research (NIHR).

Through NIHR, the Department funds innovative research through multiple programmes and broader infrastructure investments. The NIHR supports a range of projects developing next-generation bionic and prosthetic technologies. NIHR-funded initiatives include: the Starworks Child Prosthetics Network; the Rebel Hand Project, which is developing smart prosthetic hands for children; the Virtual Reality Prosthetics Training System; and the Brain Injury Sensory Prosthetic, which is using augmented reality for vision rehabilitation. These examples illustrate the broad support for innovation in bionics and advanced prosthetic development.

The Government is committed to ensuring that patients have access to high-quality prosthetics while supporting British innovation in healthcare technology. The NHS Supply Chain plays a vital role in supporting our health service, delivering significant value, and thereby ensuring more resources are directed to frontline patient care.

The NHS Supply Chain’s Prosthetics, Components and Associated Products Framework is due to launch on 24 November 2025 to replace the Artificial Limbs Framework. The new framework will offer over 95,000 products to provide clinical choice in order to meet patient need. The full product range, which encompasses bionics and advanced prosthetics along with repair componentry, will be made available from 12 compliant suppliers.