Figures released by the DWP have revealed that it is the department, rather than assessment providers who are largely to blame for the huge delays in PIP review decisions. They also show that claimants who ask for a review due to a change of circumstances get a much quicker decision.
Last week, disability minister Stephen Timms answered a written parliamentary question on the average wait for a PIP review decision.
He told MPs that, as of September 2024, the median wait for a review initiated by the DWP is :
- 290 days where it is referred to an assessment provider; and
- 252 days where it is not referred to an assessment provider.
This suggest that over 8 months of the waiting time is down to the DWP, with assessment providers adding just over a month to the process.
The waiting time for a change of circumstances review requested by a claimant is very much shorter, however, at 69 days.
Timms did offer the reassurance that “Whilst reviews are outstanding, all payments to existing claimants continue. Should a review identify eligibility for an increased award, backdated payments will be made where appropriate to ensure claimants are not adversely impacted by delays.”
Back in September, Timms told MPs that the DWP were recruiting additional case manager to work on PIP.
He also said that the new suppliers of health assessments would be recruiting new health professionals “to ensure they have sufficient capacity to deliver the required volume of assessments”.
However, it now appears that additional health professionals will have little effect on waiting times unless the DWP gets its own house in order.
It is clear that the DWP will be working on some major projects over the coming year.
There is the flood of managed migrations from ESA to UC which won’t end before December 2025. And there is the likely change to the work capability assessment due to be announced soon. Plus there are wholesale changes to the role of jobcentres, which will be unveiled in a forthcoming white paper.
And that’s without taking into account the changes to disability benefits that may be announced in the Spring
In May 2024, there were 392,000 outstanding PIP award reviews. That is a massive backlog.
With all their other projects, it seems unlikely that urgently tackling the delays in planned PIP reviews will be much of a priority, in spite of the difficulties and uncertainty that it causes to hundreds of thousands of claimants.
