Guidance

Facilitator guidance

Updated 8 June 2026

Thank you for hosting a workshop for the Timms Review of Personal Independence Payment (PIP). The Workshop in a box is an engagement approach to help individuals and organisations to gather and share evidence from real people on the impact of PIP on their lives The input received from the workshops ran will form an essential part of the co-production process of the Timms Review.

Key information about the Timms Review Workshop in a box

• the Workshop in a box provides all the material you need to host your own workshop to inform the Timms Review of PIP
• the Workshop in a box offer is open to anyone who would like to host a session, including D/deaf and Disabled People’s Organisations (DDPOs), disability or health charities, community groups and elected representatives
• sessions can be delivered online or in-person across the UK
• we would recommend running a session of between 45 minutes to 2.5 hours
• we have provided materials that are intended to be used flexibly and can be adapted based on the group you have brought together
• materials are available in English, Easy Read, British Sign Language, audio, large print and Welsh
• submit your insights via the response form before 5pm on Friday 17 July 2026 – if you are not able to use the standard form, you can share your response via email to timmsreview.workshopinabox@dwp.gov.uk

This guidance explains how to prepare for, run, and follow up your workshop.

A checklist for running your workshop

Before the workshop, you should:

• review this guidance
• attend an optional briefing webinar
• download and tailor the slide deck
• invite participants and confirm attendance,
• collect informed consent, participant information and access needs
• plan accessibility and logistics

After running the workshop, make sure you have:

• submitted your insights via the response form on or before 5pm on Friday 17 July 2026 or by emailing your response to timmsreview.workshopinabox@dwp.gov.uk
• invited participants to feedback on how they found the session and their involvement in the Timms Review via the workshop feedback form – this is intended to capture feedback on the Workshop in a box offer, not facilitation of sessions
• provided your feedback on the Workshop in a box offer and the experience of being involved in the Timms Review – this is an optional step but provides useful learnings for the Review

How to use the workshop materials

The materials are designed to be used flexibly, so we encourage you to adapt them to suit your attendees. This can be through the questions you ask from the pack and/or how you facilitate the discussion. Timings are given as guidance on slide 4, but you can adapt these to your audience, including breaks as required.

There are 3 steps to prepare the slides for your workshop:

1. Select the content you need and remove unused slides.
2. Adapt the content to suit your group, including updating the yellow highlighted portions of text to add content specific to you if you would like to do so.
3. Decide how you will facilitate the activities.

Choosing the sessions and activities you will run

You do not need to use all the content or do all the activities. Consider the time available for your workshop, select the sessions you will run, and remove the slides you will not use.

The material includes welcome and wrap-up slides. We recommend you use these to help your attendees know what the workshop is for and what will happen next.

The material also includes an optional introduction activity, which you can use to open your workshop. You should ask attendees to only share if they are comfortable. You could instead invite attendees to introduce themselves to a partner and then introduce their partner to the group. You are also welcome to run an alternative introduction activity to help attendees feel welcome and safe in the workshop.

There is also an optional session on ‘Introducing the Timms Review’, which explains more of the context for the workshop. Alternatively, you can provide the ‘Participant information sheet’ to your attendees in advance, as this also provides the information captured in these slides.

The workshop material includes 3 options for discussion sessions (‘What PIP is for’, ‘What it is like to apply for PIP’, ‘How decisions are made about PIP’). Depending on the time available, you could run one, two or all three discussion sessions. There are 3 or 4 activities in each discussion session. You can run all activities or choose a few that you think will best work for your group. We also encourage you to adapt the session as the conversation evolves, such as by giving more time to activities the group is particularly engaged with.

Adapting the materials to your attendees

The materials provide the starting point for your conversation. Please use your expertise and creativity in how you deliver the sessions, adapting them to suit your group’s needs and interests. We encourage you to help the group think imaginatively and ambitiously about how PIP could work differently.

There are some places in the material where we recommend you tailor the slides for your workshop; these are highlighted in yellow and marked with a comment. Other changes you could make to tailor the workshop to your group are:

• adjusting timings and breaks
• adding relevant examples or images
• simplifying or tailoring language
• adjusting the questions (for example for a large group, slide 26 could say “the main thing” or “two or three things”)
• asking additional follow-up questions (for example, for slide 32, you could ask “what should an assessor know about someone?”, “how would you like questions to be asked?”, “do you think everyone should be treated the same?”, “how often should someone have to be assessed?”)

While we encourage you to adapt the material to suit your group, please do not lead attendees to conclusions. The aim of the workshop is to understand their views.

There are also some specific groups and circumstances we recommend tailoring the workshop for.

For attendees who do not receive PIP or have not applied for PIP

Attendees at your workshop are likely to have different experiences of PIP. Activities are designed to work for all groups, whether your attendees receive or have applied for PIP. We recommend that facilitators invite attendees to answer questions based on their own experience, what someone they know has experienced, or what they would answer if they received or applied for PIP. For example, on slide 17 when talking about extra costs, you could change the language in the second half of the question from “How do they affect how you use PIP?” to “How could they affect how you would use PIP?”

For attendees who are not Disabled people

Workshops have primarily been designed for Disabled attendees but can be adapted to other groups with experience and knowledge of PIP, such as carers or advisers. All activities can be run with other groups. Suggested alternative prompt questions for questions where adapting may be required are:

• slide 17 – “Are there parts of people’s lives or circumstances that affect the extra costs of Disability? How do you think they affect how people use PIP?”.
• slide 30 - “For different Disabilities or conditions, the PIP assessment captures…” and “For different Disabilities or conditions, the PIP assessment does not capture”

For workshops in Wales and Northern Ireland

The Timms Review steering group wants to hear from organisations across the UK.

PIP is the responsibility of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) in England and Wales. To run a workshop in Wales, you do not need to adapt the workshop materials.

PIP is a transferred matter in Northern Ireland, which means it is the responsibility of the Northern Ireland Executive. But there is a long-standing principle of parity between the social security systems of the Northern Ireland Executive and the UK Government. It is therefore important that the Review hears from disabled people in Northern Ireland and the organisations that represent them. To run a workshop in Northern Ireland, we recommend:

• noting to attendees that PIP is a transferred matter in Northern Ireland
• editing slide 22, so that the first box of the process says, “Contacting Personal Independence Payment Centre (Northern Ireland) to start the claim”

For workshops in Scotland

PIP is devolved in Scotland and has been replaced by Adult Disability Payment (ADP). However, DWP continues to provide some “reserved” social security benefits in Scotland, such as Universal Credit.

As PIP has been devolved in Scotland and replaced by the Scottish Government’s Adult Disability Payment, most of the content in Workshop in a box is not directly relevant in Scotland. It is important to the success of the Review that Disabled people in Scotland, and the organisations that represent them, have a chance to feed into the Review, to ensure that we fully understand how the reserved and devolved landscapes will interact. The Timms Review will also be hearing perspectives from Scotland from other parts of the evidence and engagement programme, such as the Call for Evidence and existing data and research.

If you would like to run a workshop in Scotland, we recommend:

• noting to attendees that ADP is outside the scope of the Review and PIP has been replaced by ADP in Scotland
• focusing on attendees’ historic experiences with PIP in Scotland (before PIP was devolved)
• considering additional questions about how the reserved and devolved landscapes interact

Deciding how you will facilitate the activities

The workshop materials include question and discussion prompts in different sessions but leaves it open to facilitators to choose how to run discussions. You can choose different facilitation methods for different activities, and we recommend offering multiple ways for attendees to contribute (such as speaking, chat, written, visual and anonymous). You will know the needs of your group best, but some activities that you could use include:

• open group discussion – inviting contributions from volunteers in the group
• small group discussion – groups of 3 to 5 attendees discuss the topic together, using online breakout rooms or clustering around tables. If you have time, the small groups can then share their views with each other.
• individual reflections – attendees share reflections on Post-it notes or paper slips. For online meetings, reflections can be shared in the meeting chat or using anonymous online tools like Slido or Mentimeter. This is particularly helpful for more personal activities (such as slides 16 or 23).
• world café – small groups of attendees rotate around the different activities and discussion questions, with a facilitator keeping notes and each group adding to the previous discussion
• round robin – facilitators go around the whole group, inviting each person to contribute if they are comfortable

Before the workshop

Downloading the materials

Materials are available in English, Easy Read, British Sign Language, audio, large print and Welsh.

When you download and use the guidance and materials for a Workshop in a box you acknowledge and accept that:

• these documents only provide guidance on the content of sessions and how to conduct sessions
• you have the suitable consents and other legal requirements to run the workshops
• you have the suitable consents and other legal requirements to host participants at your, or any other, premises
• you are responsible for all the information you provide to participants in workshops and any information provided will have a direct influence on any output from the workshops
• you are responsible for the Data Protection and Privacy of all Data Subjects
• you are responsible for the data collected and submitted to DWP and that you have suitable consents to submit that data to DWP

Attending an optional briefing webinar

The Timms Review team will be running webinars on Wednesday 10 June and Tuesday 16 June. You can sign up to a briefing session here.

These sessions will cover what you should do before and after running a workshop. The team will also run through the workshop slides. There will be time for questions and answers. 

Planning the logistics and ensuring accessibility

Steps to take for planning your workshop are as follows:

• decide the format (online or in-person). For online workshops, Zoom and Microsoft Teams both offer captions and breakout rooms. For in-person workshops, you will need to source a suitable venue.
• choose a date and time suitable for your attendees, such as using a slot at a regular group meeting
• assign roles to your facilitation team, such as presenting content, facilitating group discussion, taking notes, and supporting with technology and accessibility
• Brief facilitators running the workshop on inclusive practices, such as:
  • adopting a person-centred approach: assume diversity of access needs and avoid one-size-fits-all delivery
  • using inclusive (where possible Social Model of Disability) language and avoiding jargon; explain any necessary terminology clearly. It can be useful to have a jargon guide breaking down any language or acronyms.
  • normalising access needs (for example, movement, cameras off, sensory adjustments) without requiring disclosure
  • checking in regularly with the group and adjusting based on feedback
• prepare workshop resources, including by:
  • testing your technology and access arrangements, such as screens, microphones, captions, and any online meeting platforms or tools
  • printing and bringing materials needed for your activities, such as Post-it notes and pens, for in-person meetings
• prepare safeguarding arrangements by:
  • having a quiet space attendees can use and reminding participants they can leave a session if they do not feel comfortable
  • having contact details for organisations you can refer attendees to if they need further support or links to resources available online
  • ensuring facilitators are aware of safeguarding processes
• invite your attendees (see more guidance on this below), ask about access needs beforehand and explain how requests will be met
• share information with your confirmed attendees - you should include:
  • the time and date
  • joining instructions for online workshops or directions for in-person workshops
  • workshop materials, including in accessible formats
  • information about how the session will be run
  • request for their consent
  • invite them to share any access needs
  • ask them to complete the optional ‘About you’ form (see more information on this below)

Inviting attendees to your workshop

We recommend holding your workshop with up to 25 attendees to provide a variety of views but time for everyone to participate. You could use the following text to invite your group, but you are welcome to adapt it as needed:

Subject/call to action: Share your views on PIP with the Timms Review – join our workshop

[Stakeholder name] are hosting a workshop as part of the Timms Review of Personal Independence Payment (PIP), and we would love you to take part. This session is open to anyone with experience or views on PIP [or description of who you are inviting, like Disabled people / advisors / carers if more specific].

This is a chance to share your experiences, talk about what works (and what does not), and help shape the recommendations that the steering group take forward to the Secretary of State. This will include your views on what PIP is for, what it is like to apply for PIP and how decisions about PIP are made.

The session will take place on [date] at [time], with around [number] participants, and will be run by [facilitator/organisation]. The session will be [online/ in person]. [If in person, provide location of event].

Please respond to this email or reach out to [email address] if you would like to participate in the session. We will then follow up to obtain consent and provide further information on the session and an agenda and materials will be shared [X days] in advance.

Ensuring informed consent and data protection

Before you host the workshop, you must collect informed consent from all attendees or their representatives. We recommend you do this when attendees sign up to take part in the workshop. You must tell all attendees how the information that they share in the workshop will be recorded, handled and stored.

Collecting information about your attendees

The Timms Review would like to understand the reach of the Workshop in a box offer by asking those facilitating sessions to share some information about workshop participants. This forms part of the standard response form that you are asked to complete per workshop. We are asking for this information in aggregate, meaning a summary of workshop participants rather than individual participant information. Please do not share any personal identifiable information with us.  

To capture the participant information to complete this section of the response form, we recommend the use of the template ‘About you’ form, available here. We recommend asking attendees to complete this before the workshop. Please do inform them that completing this is optional.

During the workshop

Collecting attendance and consent

When you submit your insights, you will be asked to provide the number of attendees, so we ask that you count the number of attendees at the start of the session. Please do not share the names of those who attended.

Before your workshop starts, you must have received informed consent from all attendees. If you have not received consent before the day, you should ask for it at the start of the workshop. You should let attendees know how information will be used, as well as who is in the workshop and the roles they are playing (such as notetaking or PA support).

Starting your workshop

At the start of your workshop, you should:

• provide housekeeping information, such as the location of toilets and fire-exits or how to use the online chat
• let attendees know that their participation is voluntary, and that they can leave, take a break, pass on a question, or check out at any point
• provide a content warning, informing attendees that the topics are personal and may be distressing - this is included on slide 5
• explain how insights will be shared and used, including that you will summarise the session and submit the insights to the Timms Review

Slide 5 also suggests some ways that the group should work together. We encourage you to create a space where attendees feel they can contribute openly, honestly, creatively and safely.

Recording your insights

In the session, you can record insights in the way that works best for you, which could include:

• writing directly within the boxes on the slides
• printing the slides for attendees to use as a workbook
• having notetaker(s) at your workshop
• recording the meeting, as long as consent is obtained from participants to do so

You do not need to record all detailed contributions. You will be asked for input a summary of responses to the questions posed in the workshop.

After the workshop

Submitting your insights

After the workshop, please submit your insights as soon as possible, using the form. If you are unable to use the form, responses can be submitted to timmsreview.workshopinabox@dwp.gov.uk.

If you have hosted more than one workshop, please submit one response form per workshop. If you have adjusted the questions in your workshop, please include this in your response.

All insights must be shared on or before 5pm on Friday 17 July.

What happens next

All responses from workshops will be analysed by the Timms Review team. The Timms Review steering group will receive a summary paper and will have access to all organisation’s submissions. They will discuss the insights at their meetings in August and September, using them to inform their recommendations.

Ensuring accessibility and inclusivity

You will know the needs of your group best, but we recommend sharing recordings, notes or resources with the group in accessible formats. You can also invite feedback on accessibility and inclusion, using this to reflect and adapt future sessions.

Frequently asked questions

What is the Timms Review?

The government has launched the Timms Review to ensure that Personal Independence Payment (PIP) is fair and fit for the future in a changing world, and helps support Disabled people to achieve better health, higher living standards and greater independence, including through employment. The Review is co-chaired by Sir Stephen Timms, Minister for Social Security and Disability; Sharon Brennan and Dr Clenton Farquharson CBE. The co-chairs work with a steering group of 12 members who jointly lead co-production of the Review. The steering group brings together a range of lived experience, expertise, and diverse characteristics.

What is the ‘Workshop in a box’ for?

This engagement tool was used by NHS England in Change NHS 2024 engagement. It is a tool that is aimed at helping you facilitate a conversation about the Timms Review and the role PIP plays in people’s lives. These workshops will allow the Review to capture more in-depth qualitative insights on people’s lived experience of disability and PIP across the UK, recognising that charities, advisory networks and other grassroots organisations often hold greater trust with people with direct experience and knowledge of PIP. 

How is this different from the call for evidence?

The Timms Review call for evidence, which closed on 28 May, was a broad call for evidence which invited insight and feedback on the themes agreed by the steering group, as well as areas covered by the Timms Review Terms of Reference more generally. The Workshop in a box, on the other hand, is a downloadable pack of resources that people or organisations can use to deliver workshops themselves. This will enable the Review to capture more in-depth qualitative inputs on people’s lived experience of disability and PIP with wide geographical spread. The pack includes specific questions, topics and activities that the steering group would like to hear about. The Workshop in a box aims to hear from a wide range of voices, especially those least likely to engage with more formal government evidence channels. Both the Workshop in a box and the call for evidence form key parts of the steering group’s overall engagement and evidence strategy to ensure the outcomes of the Review are informed by evidence from a wide range of sources.

Should I provide remuneration for attendees?

Organisations are encouraged to recognise attendees’ time and contribution, for example through vouchers, refreshments or meals, or other appropriate forms of appreciation. There is no centrally administered provision for remuneration. Decisions on what is appropriate, and delivery of any such recognition, are at the discretion of the organisation running the session.

Could we provide feedback?

Yes, you can provide feedback by completing the facilitator feedback form.

Who can I contact with further questions?

Please contact timmsreview.workshopinabox@dwp.gov.uk with any further questions.