Long waits for disability benefit claims unacceptable, MPs say

Some people are waiting more than a year for their disability benefit claims to be processed, risking pushing them into debt and poverty, MPs have warned.

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) aims to process 75% of new claims for Personal Independence Payment (Pip) within 75 working days, but in the last financial year only 51% of claims were processed within this timeframe.

A report by the cross-party Public Accounts Committee (PAC) said the department was providing “unacceptably low levels of service”.

The DWP said at the end of October the average time it took for a Pip claim to be decided was 16 weeks.

A spokesman said the department always aims to process claims “as quickly as possible” and will ensure the ongoing review of Pip is “appropriate and fair for the future”.

Pip, paid to people with long-term physical or mental health problems, is the main disability benefit in England and Wales.

It is not linked to someone’s income or whether they work or not and provides extra help with living expenses.

The number of people claiming Pip has been increasing in recent years, with the benefit being paid to around 3.7 million people.

The PAC report said the long wait for Pip claims to be processed was “unacceptable”, with some people waiting more than a year.

The DWP told the committee that these experiences did not show up in its statistics but acknowledged this was a real situation that needed to be addressed.

The department is testing the online application process in several zip codes and says it typically shortens the processing time for claims by 20 days.

It had previously told the committee it planned to process up to 20% of Pip requests using the new online service by 2026, but has since said it believes it can achieve that target by 2029.

“This is too long for claimants to have to wait to receive better service,” the report said.

The committee’s chairman, Conservative MP Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, said: “Our committee was reassured three years ago that developments were emerging by now; now we are told they are another three years away.

“This is not good enough for our constituents, who we know are at risk of being pushed into debt or poverty by a ministry that is unresponsive to their needs.”

The report also raised concerns that Universal Credit applicants’ first meeting with a work coach should be shortened from 50 minutes to 30 minutes.

The government warned that “claimants with more complex needs may not receive the support they need”.

Last year, government abandons plans to make it harder for people to claim PipIn the face of a massive rebellion from Labor MPs.

The government estimated the proposals would save £5bn a year by 2030.

Instead it has launched a review into Pip led by Social Security and Disability Secretary Sir Stephen Timms, which is due to report in the autumn.

The government said the aim of the review was to ensure Pip was “fair and fit for the future, rather than producing proposals for further savings”.

A DWP spokesman said: “We are repairing the broken welfare system we inherited by giving claimants the support they need to get into good, secure jobs and move out of poverty.

“Alongside the most ambitious employment reforms for a generation, we have redeployed nearly 1,000 job coaches to help sick or disabled people left behind.

“These reforms are being delivered as we replace legacy systems through our ambitious £647 million modernization programme.”