Personal Independence Payment delays

Personal Independence Payment (PIP) is extra money to help with everyday life if you have an illness, disability or mental health condition. Last year we helped nearly 200,000 people with their PIP claim and it has become our most common advice issue.

In particular, there are currently problems with delays in people being assessed for the benefit. After 16 months of growth during the pandemic, the backlog of cases had reached 350,000 by October 2021. 

While we've seen some reduction over the past year, the backlog is still almost 285,000 cases and people are waiting roughly four months for their claim to be processed. This is against the backdrop of a cost of living crisis and we are currently referring record numbers of disabled people to food banks.

This dashboard presents both our own and DWP data on PIP applications and how long it is taking for people to access the benefit.