Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an estimate of how long (a) it takes to complete a Personal Independence Payment application and (b) it will take after the end of the Work Capability Assessment.

The time it takes to clear a claim, and the number of people awaiting a decision, can vary. We are continuing to see an improvement in Personal Independence Payment (PIP) clearance times, with the latest statistics showing that the average end-to-end journey has reduced each quarter from 26 weeks in August 2021 to 14 weeks at the end of January 2023. This means that we’re clearing claims faster than we were prior to the pandemic.

The latest release of the PIP Official Statistics, with data available to January 2023, is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/personal-independence-payment-statistics-to-january-2023.

Reducing customer journey times for PIP claimants is a priority for the department and we are working constantly to make improvements to our service. We will continue to monitor journey times as we develop our reform proposals.