Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the recent High Court ruling regarding delays in Personal Independence Payments.

The Court rejected two of the three legal grounds brought by the claimants, finding that their human rights had not been breached and not awarding damages.

Where the Court found that the historic delay for the two claimants was unlawful, they also ruled that they are not “test cases” and it would be inappropriate to make wider findings.

The Court accepted that the Government had made significant improvements to the Personal Independence Payment (PIP) process and there are now no inherent failings in the system.

As a result of these improvements, the average time taken for a claimant to be assessed by an assessment provider has fallen by more than three quarters since June 2014. In April 2015, the average new claimant was waiting 5 weeks for their PIP assessment – well within the 16 week target set by the Secretary of State.