Decisions for Scottish disability payments are taking longer than intended, but still do not rival the two and a half years some claimants have been waiting for a PIP decision
Child Disability Payment (CDP) and Adult Disability Payments (ADP) have replaced DLA for children and PIP respectively, in Scotland.
However, the Scottish government says that decisions are taking longer to make than they hoped. The majority of claimants receive their decision within four months, but some claimants are waiting six months or more.
Unlike PIP, decisions on ADP are made without an assessment wherever possible. However, this does mean there is a greater reliance on supporting evidence and it is difficulties and delays with obtaining this that is causing problems.
Social Security Scotland are introducing various measures, such as enabling GP’s to submit evidence online, to try to speed-up processing times.
Whatever the issues, Scotland still has a long way to go before they beat the delays experienced by some PIP claimants in England and Wales. The DWP claim that the average time taken to make a decision on a new PIP claim is 16 weeks.
However, thousands of PIP claimants have waited longer than 6 months for a PIP decision, with some waiting over 30 months. As of October 2022:
- Number of PIP claims over 6 months old: 3,200
- Number of PIP claims over 12 months old: 800
- Number of PIP claims over 18 months old: 600
- Number of PIP claims over 24 months old: 600
- Number of PIP claims over 30 months old: 600
Did you have to wait an unreasonably long time for a benefits decision? Let us know in the comments section below.
