The success rate for personal independence payment (PIP) claims that get as far as an assessment have continued to fall, according to the latest figures released by the DWP. The DWP is also failing to keep up with demand in every area of PIP, except for mandatory reconsiderations, which have seen a big improvement in clearance times.
For the quarter ending April 2026, 44% of new claims where an assessment had been completed received an award. This is a decrease from 50% in April 2025.
Overall, for all new PIP claims the success rate is 37%, a decrease from 43% in April 2025.
New claims currently take 18 weeks to clear, from the date they are received to the date a decision is made, up from 14 weeks a year ago.
The time taken from a claim being sent to an assessment provider to a decision being made has increased from 10 weeks to 13 weeks.
The figures also show that the DWP is failing to keep up with demand in every area of PIP claims and reviews:
- 250,000 registrations but only 240,000 clearances for new claims
- 38,000 changes of circumstance were reported but only 31,000 were cleared
- 24,000 registrations but only 23,000 clearances for DLA reassessments
- 130,000 planned award reviews were registered but only 120,000 were cleared
The number of mandatory reconsiderations has also increased, with 74,000 being registered, an increase of 10% on the same period last year.
However, decisions on mandatory reconsiderations is one area where the DWP is improving, with 91,000 being cleared in the latest quarter, an increase of 42%. It is currently taking an average of 43 days to make a decision, a decrease of 36 days compared to last year.
26% of mandatory reconsiderations led to a change in award.
