Anyone applying for Personal Independence Payment or awaiting a review of their existing claim may receive a decision much earlier than expected, thanks to a major Government update. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has now reportedly bolstered its team of case managers to almost 2,000 as it aims to address its significant backlog of claims.
The overhaul comes as the DWP has experienced ‘unprecedented demand’ for the disability benefit, which provides financial assistance for people with long-term physical and mental health conditions. Data reveals that between May and July, 210,000 individuals submitted PIP applications, averaging 70,000 per month.
During the same period, decisions were made on 240,000 claims, with 53% of applicants awarded the benefit following a health assessment. Approximately 37% of successful applicants received the highest payment level of £737 every four weeks.
However, the influx of new applications has slowed the review process for existing claims, prompting the need for increased staffing. According to a recent Civil Service World report the DWP had 1,948 full-time case managers working on PIP claims as of August, marking a 5.5% increase from the previous year.
This equates to just over 100 additional officials handling applications, with further recruitment planned to enhance staffing levels. The department is reportedly training new recruits to handle less complex claims, freeing up experienced officials to review existing cases, according to Birmingham Live.
During the first phase of transforming the PIP system, assessments to determine eligibility and benefit amounts are now being conducted by a single contractor within each geographical region. This streamlining will eventually lead to the launch of a nationwide Health Assessment Service in five years.
BirminghamLive recently unveiled that additional funding is being injected into the PIP system until September 2028, including £110 million this financial year and £35 million in 2025-2026. This will enable the hiring of more staff and ensure a higher number of new claims are processed on time, thus freeing up resources to tackle the backlog of existing cases requiring review.
DWP Minister for Social Security and Disabilities Sir Stephen Timms (East Ham) recently confirmed several initiatives were underway to address new applications for PIP as well as the lengthy waiting list of existing claim reviews.
Sir Stephen said: “We continue to prioritise new claims to PIP to ensure claims are put into payment as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, this means many customers are waiting longer than expected for their review to be undertaken. We have been actively recruiting additional case managers to meet increased demand for PIP, which means we are now in a position to begin to deploy additional resource onto award reviews. This will increase the number of review cases we can complete ‘in house’.”
He mentioned that the DWP is ensuring that new assessment providers ‘have sufficient capacity to deliver the required volume of assessments’ but stressed that ‘this may take time’, partly due to the lengthy training period needed for new healthcare professionals.
The minister said other procedures had been put in place ‘to increase efficiency and move cases through the system more quickly’ too. This includes making quicker decisions on reviews without needing to arrange an assessment, if enough evidence is available to reach a decision.
Moreover, with most assessments now conducted via telephone, ‘the vast majority of customers who need an assessment do not need to attend a face-to-face appointment at an Assessment Centre’. Further changes also mean that claimants with the most severe conditions, who are on the highest level of PIP support, are given an ‘ongoing’ award of the benefit with no need for reassessment except for a ‘light touch review’ every 10 years.
Sir Stephen explained that people whose claims need to be reviewed are kept informed and don’t lose their benefits if the fixed term of their PIP award has run out while they are waiting. He said: “For customers waiting for a review, we keep them regularly updated using SMS text messages. We also ensure all PIP customers awaiting a review remain in payment, extending awards for up to 12 months where necessary, notifying customers in writing to allay concerns.”
