Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many applicants for a personal independence payment have waited for longer than four months from the (a) lodging an application to (b) receipt of an initial assessment in the most recent period in which that information is available.

We are committed to ensuring that people can access financial support through Personal Independence Payment (PIP) in a timely manner. We always aim to make an award decision as quickly as possible, taking into account the need to review all available evidence.

We are currently operating within expected levels. Average clearance times from initial claim to a decision being made for new claims are currently 19 weeks (January 21), including the time permitted to complete and return their “How your disability affects you” questionnaire, which is the same as average clearance times achieved in January 2020.

In September 2020, 64,600 people registered a claim for PIP, of which 58,130 were referred for an assessment.

In the latest available data, to 31^st January 2021, 32,330 of these were returned from the Assessment Provider within 4 months of registration, and 25,800 of these were returned after 4 months/are still outstanding.

Notes

Source: PIP ADS

• PIP analytical data held by the Department does not contain the date the assessment takes place. As a proxy, we use the date an assessment was returned from the Assessment Providers to the Department. This is usually a few days following the assessment.
• Figures are for Great Britain only.

• These figures include claims made under normal rules and special rules for terminally ill claimants and include new claims and Disability Living Allowance (DLA) to PIP reassessment claims.
• Not all claimants are referred for assessment, claims can be disallowed prior to assessment, for example, for not returning the PIP2 form.
• This is unpublished data. It should be used with caution and it may be subject to future revision.