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.

You can read the full parliamentary answer here.

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  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    · 2 months ago
    It's totally chaos I can't see DWP getting all ESA claimants on UC before end of next year with all the backlog of people waiting to be assessed. They need to sort one problem out at a time or it will be a total disaster.  
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      · 2 months ago
      @BOB I don't think there's such a chaos, as the migration from ESA to UC is mainly the job of the claimants, to move themselves to UC, and is not carried out by the DWP. And the assessments are carried out by newly restructured four profit-driven private sector companies, which are paid in relation to the number of claimants they've assessed, and thus it's in their own interest to speed up the process and increase the number of claimants they assess.

      In addition, we're in a digital era in which highly performant modern database servers (computers) run database management system software, facilitating and ensuring tasks such as data storage, retrieval, manipulation, security, data integrity, concurrent access, and scalability while optimizing performance through indexing, query optimization, and caching. These database management system software are capable of dealing with staggering volumes of database in no time.
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      · 2 months ago
      @BOB They want it to be a disaster, that way they save endless amounts of money.  Then eventually when they get kicked out of power @ the next GE.  They will simply pile the blame onto others.
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      · 2 months ago
      @BOB It probably won't affect the migration of ESA claimants to UC very much because you don't need another assessment at that point.
  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    · 2 months ago
    As part of my role I support clients to complete PIP Review forms. I am finding that having completed and submitted a Review form in the majority of cases their existing award is then extended for a year without an assessment taking place. 
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      · 2 months ago
      @Erica thanks for posting that, were waiting on our assessment and they said you get an extension a month out from end date, but still wasn't sure until I read your post that its still actually happening :)
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      · 2 months ago
      @Gladioli Seems to be the case. We're capita, South Wales. Mine was called for review in April, with award ending December 2nd. Got a year's extension a fortnight ago. In our fb group it's more common than not. 
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      · 2 months ago
      @Gladioli This has been the case for some time. However, most reassessments will occur well before that year is out. It's just a standard obligatory text message they send out. 
  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    · 2 months ago
    I am beginning it is the politicians fault for setting such ambitious targets on the DWP which they simply cannot meet as their targets keep changing causing more chaos as usual
  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    · 2 months ago
    I had to fill In a Esa review form back in January and haven't heard anything back from them
    When you phoned the dwp , there is a message saying we will contact you . There still sending them out.
    Migration to UC should be stopped until this and other things are sorted 
  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    · 2 months ago
    Telegraph copying a Times article which said "Young unemployed must take up training, education or face benefits cut".

    From where I sit Kendall wants the young up and on their feet. No mention of long term illness or disability. Her "getting Britain back to work" White paper is due to come out by the end of this month though where we'll see the true scale of her's, Milburn's and the DWP's plans.

    Then the conundrum of young people out of work due to Depression and Anxiety, what will Labour do? Will they join the Conservative minds in insulting them? Calling them in Isabel Oakeshott's words "Parasites"? Or will they help them? Give them all the help they need where integration into a workplace or educational environment is beneficial for them? 

    I'm actually concerned with the trivializing of Mental Illness in Britain from Conservative Minds. It cannot be stressed with Depressives that one day it's not getting up and staying in bed and then it goes to doing a Graham Thorpe.
  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    · 2 months ago
    Still awaiting the decision to my review since April and the end date for my PIP is January 2025 so getting very close yet haven't heard a thing.
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      · 2 months ago
      @MJ they told me recently that you will get an extension automatically one month from your end date 
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      · 2 months ago
      @MJ my pip has been extended to 2025 nov 
      now waiting 9 months for a review 

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