The Tories today agreed to put disabled people through fewer tests to prove they deserve benefits if Boris Johnson wins the general election.

The party's manifesto announced the minimum award for Personal Independence Payment (PIP) will double from 9 to 18 months before people have to face a reassessment.

The pledge, after years of complaints about people being forced through dehumanising, humiliating assessments, is set to cost £75million a year in 2020/21 if the Tories get into government.

Its cost will rise to £80million a year by 2023/24.

The manifesto boasts the move is "part of our efforts to empower and support disabled people" – as the Tories also finally end the freeze on working-age benefits.

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But it stops short of committing to any new action to help people on Universal Credit , saying only "we will do more to make sure" it works.

And the manifesto does not commit to cutting the five-week wait for the first payment in UC, despite the standard period driving people to foodbanks.

By comparison, Labour has vowed to scrap UC and stop the "dehumanising" PIP assessments altogether.

The Tory manifesto says: "As part of our efforts to empower and support disabled people, we will reduce the number of reassessments a disabled person must go through when a significant change in condition is unlikely.

"Because you should not have to provide repeated proof of your disability in order to receive support."

It comes after former Work and Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd – who later resigned the Tory whip and stood down as an MP – said disabled pensioners would no longer have their PIP awards regularly reviewed.

She also vowed to improve the system so fewer PIP assessments are overturned by a tribunal.

Around three-quarters of tribunals for people who were denied PIP currently rule against the DWP – tens of thousands.

DWP chiefs say internal appeals, known as mandatory reconsiderations, are being tightened up to gather more evidence and resolve problems before they come to tribunal.

But waiting times have also exploded as cases clog the system, with the average MR taking 69 days – up from 32.

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