Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing an online portal for Personal Independence Payment claims to help improve communication between his Department and claimants.

The Health Transformation Programme is modernising health and disability benefit services. It will create a more efficient service and a vastly improved claimant experience, reducing journey times and improving communications with claimants to increase transparency and build trust in our services and decisions.

The programme is transforming the entire PIP service, including introducing a digital PIP service with the option to apply online.   We are currently operating a small-scale test of this new apply service, taking a small number of claims to begin with, before we gradually and carefully increase the number of people who can use it.

We have already introduced a digital version of the PIP2 health questionnaire, which is now offered to the majority of those making a claim. The full online apply service will offer claimants the option to claim PIP online, including the ability to save and resume and to upload medical evidence.

The programme will be developing the new PIP service carefully and incrementally, designing it around the needs of claimants, making it quicker, simpler and more transparent.