Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of classifying long covid as a condition eligible for Personal Independence Payments.

Personal Independence Payment (PIP) is intended to act as a contribution towards the extra costs that arise from needs related to a long-term health condition or disability. It is assessed on the basis of functional needs not a diagnosis or condition. The needs arising from long Covid are assessed in the same way as for all other health conditions or disabilities.

From March 2021 we amended PIP statistical classifications to include the category “Coronavirus COVID-19”. Data on the PIP caseload by a range of factors, including main disabling condition, can be extracted from Stat-Xplore (Stat-Xplore - Log in (dwp.gov.uk)) . Information on how to use Stat-Xplore can be found at Getting Started (dwp.gov.uk).