Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 19 September 2023 to Question 199184 on Disability Living Allowance and Personal Independence Payment: Internet, which postcodes are eligible for the online application service for PIP launched on 27 July; and what criterion was used to select these postcodes.

One key element of the Health Transformation Programme is a new online application service for Personal Independence Payment (PIP). As explained in my answer to Question 199184, this is currently being tested in selected postcode districts across England.

It is vital that we develop an online claim service that works for all claimants across the country. The initial range of postcodes were carefully selected to ensure they are representative of the wider population and allow us to robustly evaluate the impact of the service.

Limiting the number of claimants during the testing phase means we can test the functionality and stability of the new service, learning and making improvements before we gradually and carefully increase the number of people who can use it. As we scale the service, this list of postcode districts will gradually increase until the service is available nationally across England, Wales and Northern Ireland by 2024.

A list of postcodes can be found below*. People can check if they are able to apply for PIP online through our ‘How to Claim’ GOV.UK page and using the postcode checker which will be constantly updated.

* This list will change as we continually scale the new online PIP service.

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