Official Statistics

Personal Independence Payment: Official Statistics to April 2022

Published 14 June 2022

Applies to England, Scotland and Wales

The latest release of these statistics can be found in the collection of Personal Independence Payment statistics.

Coverage: Great Britain
Frequency: Quarterly
Next release: 13 September 2022

1. Main Stories

Latest Personal Independence Payment (PIP) statistics show that as at 30th April 2022 there were 3.0 million claimants entitled to PIP (caseload), with just over one in three cases (35%) receiving the highest level of award.

Trends in the PIP statistics can be affected by numerous factors, including:

• customer demand, which has seen unprecedented levels of new claims in recent quarters
• assessment provider Health Professional and DWP Case Manager resource
• external situations, such as the COVID-19 pandemic; the effects of which we’re continuing to experience

In the quarter ending April 2022 there were:

• 200,000 registrations and 210,000 clearances for new claims, the highest levels since PIP began
• 28,000 changes of circumstance reported and 27,000 cleared
• 20,000 registrations and 21,000 clearances for DLA reassessments
• 110,000 planned award reviews registered and 71,000 cleared
• 73,000 MRs registered and 85,000 cleared

Over the last five years (May 2017 to April 2022):

• 3.8 million claims have been cleared, with 39% of normal rules new claims, 69% of normal rules DLA reassessment claims, and 99% of SREL (Special Rules for End of Life) claims receiving an award (excluding withdrawn claims)
• 67% of the 1.5 million planned award reviews resulted in an increase or no change to the level of award received by the claimant
• 77% of the 370,000 changes of circumstances resulted in an increase or no change to the level of award received by the claimant
• 34% of the 1.4 million MRs cleared (excluding withdrawn) have led to a change in award

For initial decisions following a PIP assessment during April 2013 to December 2021:

• 38% of completed MRs against initial decisions following a PIP assessment went on to lodge an appeal
• 15% of appeals lodged saw DWP change the decision in the customer’s favour before the appeal was heard at tribunal (known as “lapsed” appeals)
• 5% of initial decisions were overturned (revised in favour of the customer) at a tribunal hearing

2. What you need to know

This summary contains official statistics on Personal Independence Payments (PIP). PIP helps with some of the extra costs caused by long-term disability, ill-health or where they are approaching the end of their life due to a progressive disease. From 8th April 2013 DWP started to replace Disability Living Allowance (DLA) for working age people with PIP.

The release includes PIP claims for both new customers and those with an existing entitlement for DLA (known as DLA reassessments). The majority of all claims fall under normal rules, while a small proportion fall under special rules for end of life (SREL). In previous statistical releases, these were referred to as special rules for terminal illness (SRTI), but the terminology has now been updated.

The statistics cover the PIP customer journey from registration through to decision, ongoing entitlement, award review, mandatory reconsideration (MR) and appeal. They include volumes of claimants entitled to PIP at a point in time (caseload), registrations and clearances for different stages of the journey (initiation of claims, award reviews and MRs), outcomes at clearance and median clearance times, plus customer journey statistics tracking initial decisions following a PIP assessment.

Figures in this bulletin are rounded in accordance with the DWP rounding policy. As a result, unrounded figures from the underlying data available on Stat Xplore or in accompanying tables may not sum exactly to the rounded totals.

Further detail including a summary of the PIP customer journey is given at the end of this release in the About these statistics section.

Planned future changes to PIP statistics include:

• change of focus to England and Wales, with separate section of commentary covering Scotland to reflect impact of Scottish devolution and the introduction of Adult Disability Payment

More detail can be found in the Future plans and your feedback section and readers are invited to contribute their views.

A methodological note is also available with additional detail on definitions, methodology and data quality issues.

3. PIP Claim Activity: Registrations, Clearances and Reviews

This section covers the volumes of main activities triggered by key points of the PIP customer journey, typically through:

• an initial registration for a claim
• the clearance of the claim when a decision is made as to whether or not PIP should be awarded
• a planned award review, which is an opportunity to look at entitlement at set intervals to ensure a claimant continues to receive the correct award
• the claimant reporting a change of circumstances around their condition or needs arising. The award is reviewed to ensure that they continue to receive the correct entitlement and this may or may not lead to a change in award

New claims, DLA reassessments, award reviews and changes of circumstance are considered together as volumes across different series are interdependent.

All registrations, clearances and reviews April 2013 to April 2022

Source: PIP Statistics to April 2022, Stat-Xplore

Between April 2013, when PIP began, and April 2022, 6.7 million claims have been registered for PIP, and 6.3 million of the registered claims have been cleared.

Of these:

• 4.6 million registrations (69%) are new claims whilst 2.0 million (31%) are DLA reassessment claims
• 200,000 (3%) were registered under SREL while the rest (97%) were under normal rules
• 3.3 million clearances (52%) were awarded PIP, 2.9 million (46%) had their claim disallowed and 120,000 (2%) withdrew their claim

2.0 million claims have had a planned award review registered and 500,000 claims have reported a change in circumstances between April 2013 and April 2022.

Note that “Award Reviewed” and “Change of Circumstance Reported” totals include cases where an award was made following an initial disallowance then a change of decision at MR or appeal. These awards are not included in the “Awarded” total.

You can view an interactive dashboard of the latest PIP statistics by region.

Monthly Registrations for initial claims, planned award reviews and changes of circumstance, all claims to April 2022

Source: PIP Statistics to April 2022, Stat-Xplore

Registrations and clearances each appear in the official statistics according to the date that the registration or clearance takes place. It is most often the case that a claim will not be cleared in the same month that it is registered due to the time it takes to process an application for PIP or an award review.

Registration activity fluctuates month on month. Initial new claim and change of circumstance registrations tend to follow a stable pattern of gradual increase over time and seasonal dips each December. Levels of DLA reassessment and planned award review activity can be adjusted by the Department when this is required to actively manage operational resource and achieve a balance in workflows between the two activities.

Clearance activity patterns are driven by patterns in registration activity, lagged by the time it takes to process claims and reviews. However, since processing time is also affected by available capacity for assessment provider Health Professionals and DWP Case Managers there is more variation especially in periods with processing backlogs.

From March 2020 onwards, COVID-19 provisions were put in place. There were major changes in DWP policy and customer behaviour, with:

• a reduction in activity initiated by customers (registrations for new claims and reported changes in circumstance)
• a temporary halt to DLA reassessment and award review activity except where a DLA customer reported a change in circumstance
• disruption due to COVID-19 affecting volumes of clearances for all activities - Assessment Providers switched from face-to-face to telephone assessments, and in the first few weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic efforts were made to clear residual claims in the system from before COVID-19 measures were put in place, giving rise to an initial spike in clearance volumes

Planned award reviews restarted during July 2020, and customer-initiated activity gradually resumed. Some DLA reassessment activity also restarted during July 2020, for cases where a DLA claimant reports a change of circumstances, reaches the age of 16 (18 in Scotland from 1 September 2020) or voluntarily claims PIP, although new invitations to claim PIP for working age DLA claimants are not currently being sent out.

Latest quarterly figures to April 2022 show:

• 200,000 registrations and 210,000 clearances for new claims, the highest levels since PIP began
• 28,000 changes of circumstance were reported, and 27,000 were cleared
• 20,000 registrations and 21,000 clearances for DLA reassessments
• 110,000 planned award reviews were registered and 71,000 were cleared

Note that since volumes of registrations and clearances show some volatility and fluctuate from month to month, overall trends are better assessed by considering quarterly totals or averages rather than individual monthly figures.

Comparison with earlier periods:

• Registration activity has risen over recent months with the latest quarter’s registrations up by 18% for new claims, 8% for changes of circumstance and 1% for planned award reviews in the quarter ending April 2022 compared to a year previously, though DLA reassessment registrations are down by 4% over the same period
• Clearances show even higher levels of increase for new claims (62%) and changes of circumstance (18%) when comparing the quarter ending April 2022 to April 2021, though planned award review clearances are 32% lower and DLA reassessment clearances are 8% lower
• Changes in clearance volumes vary for different areas of the Department’s workload as workflows are actively managed to cope with capacity issues. Planned award reviews are currently on hold in some cases which frees up resource to process registrations in other parts of the process but delays clearances for the award reviews themselves. Any PIP claim where an award review is waiting to be processed continues to receive their pre-review level of benefit. Customers whose needs have changed and who are awaiting a review may instead register a change of circumstance

From 21 March 2022, people living in three Local Authorities in Scotland (Dundee City, Perth and Kinross or the Western Isles (Na h-Eileanan Siar)) now make new claims to Adult Disability Payment, administered by the Scottish Government, instead of making new claims to PIP. The impact of this change is limited at this stage, affecting only 6 weeks of data for a group of Local Authorities which collectively averaged only 360 PIP registrations per month over the year to February 2022. Other PIP measures will not show any material impact by April 2022 given the usual length of the PIP customer journey. The impact of this change will grow over future months and a different approach for PIP Statistics in Scotland will be taken from the September 2022 release onwards. See section 12 Future plans and your feedback for more details.

See Stat-Xplore for more information on registrations and clearances for new claims, DLA reassessments, planned award reviews and changes of circumstance.

4. Clearance outcomes – Awards

A clearance is defined as the resolution of an initial registration, and includes all possible outcomes – awards, disallowances and withdrawals. Where an assessment takes place, a decision is made on whether to award PIP or to disallow the claim, though disallowances and withdrawals can occur prior to assessment. For further detail see the steps of the customer journey.

Two different rates can be calculated to show the proportion of cases that result in an award:

• The award rate gives the proportion of claims where PIP is awarded - the number of cases awarded divided by the total number of cases cleared (this calculation can include or exclude cases that are withdrawn, with the data underlying both series published as ready-made tables in Stat-Xplore)
• The assessment award rate gives the proportion of assessments where a decision is made to award PIP - the number of cases awarded divided by the total number of cases where an assessment has taken place (excluding withdrawn cases and those that are disallowed prior to assessment)

Award rates and Assessment award rates to April 2022

Source: PIP Statistics to April 2022, Stat-Xplore

Award rates for all claims (excluding withdrawn cases) over the period May 2017 to April 2022 (last 5 years) show that:

• 39% receive an award for normal rules new claims
• 69% receive an award for normal rules DLA reassessment claims
• 99% of SREL claimants are awarded PIP

Over the last 5 years (May 2017 - April 2022):

• 2.1 million (77%) of 2.7 million new claims had an assessment
• 1.0 million (90%) of 1.2 million DLA reassessment claims had an assessment
• all remaining claims were disallowed (either pre-assessment or through failing to attend the assessment), or withdrawn

Assessment award rates for all decisions made over the period May 2017 to April 2022 (last 5 years) (normal rules, excluding cases where an assessment has not been completed) show that:

• 50% of assessments result in an award for new claims
• 76% of assessments result in an award for DLA reassessment claims

Award rates and assessment award rates can vary over time because the number of awards being made changes, but also because the number of cases that are withdrawn or disallowed varies. This can be affected by operational timescales for different parts of the process, and in particular the deadline allowed for return of the PIP2 form (with automatic disallowance of cases where the form is not returned within that deadline) which is sometimes altered. This can contribute to volatility in the series. From April 2020, COVID-19 impacted award rates and assessment award rates, and trends were distorted during the transitional period to COVID-19 measures.

Latest figures for normal rules claims cleared in the quarter ending April 2022 show:

• 41% of all new claim clearances (excluding withdrawn) and 47% of those who were assessed received an award
• 69% of all DLA reassessment clearances (excluding withdrawn) and 74% of those who were assessed received an award

Award Types and Review Periods

Source: PIP Statistics to April 2022, Stat-Xplore

When PIP is awarded, decisions are made as to the award type and, where appropriate, the review period.

The award type may be:

• a fixed length award with a set period of time before a review of the award takes place (the “review period”)
• an “ongoing award” with no end date, where the intention will be to apply a light-touch review at the 10-year point
• a “short term award without review” which will not be subject to review but will end within a small number of years of award unless a new claim is submitted (mostly awarded under SREL, with others being awarded to claimants who are expected to see a significant reduction in needs in the short term)

Award types and review periods are set on an individual basis, based on the claimant’s needs and the likelihood of those needs changing. This takes into account such matters as planned treatment/therapy or learning/adapting to manage a condition. For fixed length awards, the review period usually ranges from a minimum of 9 months to a maximum 10 years. Review periods of less than 9 months are set only in exceptional circumstances. An award of 2 years or less is considered short term. From 31st May 2019, a guidance change for claimants whose review would have taken place when they were of State Pension age means that they are now generally awarded ongoing awards.

For normal rules new claims in the quarter ending April 2022:

• 77% of claims awarded were short term (0 to 2 years)
• 11% were longer term (over 2 years)
• 10% were ongoing

For normal rules DLA reassessment claims, patterns in award types reflect the fact that overall numbers of DLA reassessment clearance are low at this time and reassessment activity is not taking place for all types of claim. In the quarter ending April 2022:

• 32% of claims awarded were short term (0 to 2 years)
• 49% were longer term (over 2 years)
• 19% were ongoing

Clearance and award data is available from Stat-Xplore, broken down by a range of factors including award level, age, gender, award type, review period and disability for those who have undergone an assessment. This can be used to explore award rates and assessment award rates for different groups.

Number of cases entitled to PIP (caseload)

Source: PIP Statistics to April 2022, Stat-Xplore

If a PIP award is made, entitlement to PIP commences from the date of claim, or from the date the three month qualifying period was satisfied (for new claims), or from around 4 weeks after the PIP decision (for DLA reassessment claims). Claimants generally receive payment during the period for which they have entitlement, although there are times when payment may be suspended, for example if they are in hospital. Note that for cases where entitlement and payments are to start from a date prior to the decision being made, claims will not appear in the “cases with entitlement” statistics until the date of the decision.

There were 3.0 million claims with entitlement to PIP (caseload) as at 30th April 2022.

Of these:

• 1.6 million claims are new and 1.4 million are DLA reassessments
• 30,000 (1%) were registered under SREL though the majority (99%) were under normal rules

When PIP is awarded, decisions are made as to the award level – the monetary amount of the award for both Daily Living and Mobility components – depending on the claimant’s individual circumstances. Each component can be awarded at:

• enhanced rate
• standard rate
• nil, where the claimant is not awarded this component

35% of all claims with entitlement to PIP as at 30th April 2022 receive the highest level of award, with both daily living and mobility components received at the enhanced rate.

The five most commonly recorded disabling conditions for claims under normal rules are:

• Psychiatric disorder (37% of claims)
• Musculoskeletal disease (general) (20% of claims)
• Neurological disease (13% of claims)
• Musculoskeletal disease (regional) (12% of claims)
• Respiratory disease (4% of claims)

Commentary exploring the variation that appears in the different stages of the PIP journey across different disabling conditions can be found in section 9 of this bulletin, and will be updated on an annual basis in each June release.

More information on claims with entitlement (caseload), by a range of factors including award level, disability, duration of claim, age and gender is available from Stat-Xplore.

5. Review outcomes

Awards may be reviewed either when a claimant reports a change of circumstances, or at the end of their review period as set when the original award was made. During a review of an award, the award level is assessed and may be changed (which can happen with or without the case first being referred to an Assessment Provider).

The outcome of a review can be shown as:

• Increased – where the award level has increased for one or both components
• Maintained – where the award level remains as it was prior to the review
• Decreased – where the award level has decreased for one or both components
• Disallowed – where the claimant’s entitlement to benefit is ended
• Withdrawn or voluntarily relinquished (for Changes of Circumstances only)

Review outcomes from May 2017 to April 2022 (last five years)

Review Outcome	Planned Award Review	Change of Circumstance
Award Increased	19%	45%
Award Maintained	48%	32%
Award Decreased	11%	6%
Award Disallowed	22%	12%
Withdrawn or voluntarily relinquished	n/a	5%

Source: PIP Statistics to April 2022, Stat-Xplore

From May 2017 to April 2022 (last five years):

• 980,000 (67%) of the 1.5 million planned award reviews resulted in an increase or no change to the level of award received by the claimant
• 290,000 (77%) of the 370,000 changes of circumstances resulted in an increase or no change to the level of award received by the claimant
• The difference reflects the fact that many PIP claimants report a change of circumstances when their condition or disability deteriorates and their needs increase

Further information on award review outcomes by a range of factors including disability is available from Stat-Xplore.

6. Clearance and Outstanding Times

Clearance times show the time taken for DWP to process and make a decision on a case. The average clearance time is calculated as the median of all individual clearance times. For further explanation of why the median measure is used, see section 2.3 of the PIP statistics: background quality and methodology report.

Clearance times (median weeks) to April 2022

Source: PIP Statistics to April 2022, Tables 1A & 1B

Clearance times can be volatile reflecting a variety of factors including customer demand, operational resource and timescales for different parts of the process, which are sometimes altered to actively manage workflows or in response to external situations such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

Clearance times for normal rules new claims:

• are currently (April 2022) 20 weeks “end to end” (from registration to a decision being made) and 14 weeks from the AP referral to the decision
• are longer than the same period a year ago (19 weeks and 13 weeks respectively in April 2021)
• peaked in August 2021 at 26 weeks “end to end” (from registration to a decision being made) and 21 weeks from the AP referral to the decision, partly because claims that had been allowed a longer deadline for return of PIP 2 form during the period late February and late May 2021 were reaching clearance, and partly because priority in some areas was given to claims that had been waiting longer for processing due to COVID-19 disruption

Clearance times for normal rules DLA reassessment claims:

• are currently (April 2022) 22 weeks “end to end” (from registration to a decision being made) and 15 weeks from the AP referral to the decision
• are slightly shorter than the same period a year ago (23 weeks and 18 weeks respectively in April 2021)
• reflected distortions for most of the period since April 2020 due to COVID-19 measures and low volumes of DLA reassessment activity

Clearance times for SREL claims:

• are 3 working days for new claims and 5 working days for DLA reassessment claims from registration to decision

Information on clearance times and outstanding times (time already waited for cases where DWP has yet to make a decision), including regional breakdowns, can be found in National Tables 1 to 3 accompanying this release.

7. Mandatory Reconsiderations (MRs)

Claimants who wish to dispute a decision on their PIP claim at any stage can ask DWP to reconsider the decision. This is a mandatory reconsideration (MR) and must be completed before an appeal is made and lodged with HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS).

An MR considers the grounds for the dispute and reviews the original decision. An MR may give rise to a change in award, which includes:

• previously disallowed claims that are now awarded
• claims that had previously been awarded but the MR has resulted in a change in the level of the award

By the end of April 2022, 2.1 million MRs had been registered against normal rules claims since PIP began, and almost all of these had been cleared. Of these:

• 1.4 million (64%) related to new claims
• 760,000 (36%) related to reassessed DLA claims
• 170,000 (8%) were withdrawn or cancelled

MRs arising from award reviews have been counted as relating to a new claim or a reassessment claim based on the initial claim type.

The number of MRs registered and cleared within each month fluctuates over time.

• Latest figures for MR registrations (73,000 in the quarter ending April 2022) are 9% higher than the same quarter a year earlier
• MR clearances over the last two years showed low levels in April 2020, rose in June and July 2020 as activity recovered, then dropped but subsequently rose again during 2021, and has been relatively steady since November 2021 with 85,000 cleared in the quarter ending April 2022

MR clearance outcomes (excluding withdrawn MRs) to April 2022

Source: PIP Statistics to April 2022, Stat-Xplore

Over the last 5 years (May 2017 to April 2022), 34% of the 1.4 million MRs cleared (excluding withdrawn) have led to a change in award.

The degree to which MRs lead to changes in award has fluctuated over time.

• 29% of MRs cleared in April 2022 led to a change in award, continuing the decrease since mid-2021. This rate is currently at a similar rate to mid-2019
• the spike in the proportion of awards that changed in July 2021, following a dip in the preceding months, was a natural consequence of the rise in MRs relating to patterns of disallowances pre-referral to the Assessment Provider. This was mainly due to the non-return of PIP2 forms following changes in the time allowed for these returns and automatic disallowances for those who missed the deadlines
• COVID-19 disruptions caused a spike in April 2020, after which trends in proportion of MR decisions resumed the gradually increasing pattern pre-COVID-19
• a new operational approach was introduced in 2019 when the Department began proactively contacting claimants, as appropriate, to collect further oral or written evidence at the MR stage. This saw a gradual increase in the proportion of awards changed since January 2019 (23%) to 40% in December 2019
• proportions were volatile during early periods (pre-January 2014) when MR volumes were low

MR clearance times (median calendar days) to April 2022

Source: PIP Statistics to April 2022, Table 4A

MR clearance times refer to the median time taken to process an MR from the time it is registered by the claimant to a decision being made.

In April 2022, the median MR clearance time was 55 calendar days for new claims and 53 calendar days for DLA reassessments, down from the most recent peak of 79 and 78 days respectively in September 2021.

Note: information on MR clearance times can be found in found in National Tables 4A - B accompanying this release. Further breakdowns of MR registration and clearance volumes are available from Stat-Xplore.

8. Customer Journey (Experimental) Statistics

This section includes experimental statistics based on a dataset that tracks initial decisions following a PIP assessment, through to MR and appeal. These statistics:

• help us understand the claimant’s end-to-end journey from claiming PIP, through to MR and appeal
• are particularly useful to understand the volumes and proportions flowing through each stage of the process and whether there are differences for particular groups of claimants
• cover initial decisions following a PIP assessment since PIP was introduced up to December 2021, and for MRs and appeals to March 2022 - note that more MRs and appeals could be made and completed after March 2022, so numbers could go up as it can take some time for an appeal to be lodged and then cleared after the initial decision
• cover new claims and DLA reassessment claims and both normal rules and special rules for end of life (SREL)

These statistics do not include:

• decisions made prior to an assessment being completed
• decisions made at an Award Review or Change of Circumstance

This means that the MR volumes are on a different basis to the other statistics on MRs contained within this release. Appeal volumes are also on a different basis to the statistics published by the Ministry of Justice on tribunal appeals.

For robust figures on individual stages, please use:

• for MR registration and clearance volumes, the figures from Stat-Xplore
• for appeals, the quarterly Ministry of Justice Tribunals statistics

Note that within the customer journey statistics, totals may not sum due to rounding, and because MRs and appeals which are still in progress are not shown.

Initial Decisions through to MR and Appeal, April 2013 to December 2021 (Experimental statistics)

Source: PIP Statistics to April 2022, Table 5A

For initial PIP decisions following an assessment during the period April 2013 to December 2021:

• there were 4.9 million initial decisions following a PIP assessment, and 65% were awarded PIP
• 1.1 million MRs have been registered about the 4.9 million initial decisions
• 21% of completed MRs resulted in a change to the award (excluding withdrawn)
• 38% of completed MRs then lodged an appeal
• 15% of appeals lodged were “lapsed” (which is where DWP changed the decision in the customer’s favour after an appeal was lodged but before it was heard at tribunal)
• 67% of the DWP decisions cleared at a tribunal hearing were “overturned” (which is where the decision is revised in favour of the customer)
• 9% of initial decisions following a PIP assessment have been appealed and 5% have been overturned at a tribunal hearing

Considering trends over time, the proportion of:

• MRs resulting in a change to the award has reduced (by 5 percentage points to 26%) in the most recent quarter of initial decision (October to December 2021) compared to the previous quarter, and is 16 percentage points higher than the same quarter the previous year
• appeals lodged which were lapsed gradually increased from 2015-16 to reach 36% across the 2020 to 2021 financial year
• initial decisions following an assessment which have been appealed has gradually increased over time – from around 6% over the first couple of years when PIP was introduced, to 9% in 2019 to 2020
• initial decisions following an assessment overturned at a tribunal hearing gradually increased and was 4% in 2019 to 2020 – though as these statistics are grouped by initial decision date, numbers could increase for later periods as more appeals are completed

National Tables 5A to F accompanying this release give information by date of initial decision (quarter and financial year) and other factors including geography.

9. PIP statistics by Disabling Condition

The following section of this bulletin explores the variation that appears in the different stages of the PIP journey across different disabling conditions. The commentary will be updated on an annual basis, and this release contains details up to April 2022. The underlying data continue to be updated on a quarterly basis and can be found in Stat Xplore and in the National Tables that accompany each quarterly bulletin.

A PIP claimant’s main disabling condition is recorded during their assessment in over 99% of cases. Customers who are disallowed prior to their assessment, fail to attend their assessment or withdraw their claim will not have a main disabling condition recorded.

The full list of 547 disabling conditions is given in the Stat-Xplore metadata. These are then grouped into 178 Disability Sub Groups and 21 Disability Categories. These may differ to International Classification of Diseases (ICD) categories and groupings.

PIP Assessments May 2017 to April 2022 (last five years) by main disabling condition

Disability Category	Percentage of all assessments
Psychiatric disorders	38%
Musculoskeletal disease (general)	16%
Musculoskeletal disease (regional)	11%
Neurological disease	11%
Malignant disease	6%
Respiratory disease	4%
Cardiovascular disease	3%
Endocrine disease	2%
Gastrointestinal disease	2%
Visual disease	1%
Hearing disorders	1%
Genitourinary disease	1%
Other	3%

Source: PIP Statistics to April 2022, Stat-Xplore

93% of assessments under Special Rules for End of Life (SREL) over the last five years (May 2017 - April 2022) have “Malignant disease” recorded as the disabling condition.

Of those claims that have had an assessment under normal rules, over 4 out of 5 claims (83%) are recorded as being in one of the five most common disabling condition categories:

• Psychiatric disorders
• Musculoskeletal disease (general)
• Musculoskeletal disease (regional)
• Neurological disease
• Respiratory disease

The most common category recorded for normal rules claims at assessment is “Psychiatric disorders”, a broad categorisation which can be further broken down to show a wide variety of more detailed conditions. Three quarters (75%) of normal rules claims classified as having “Psychiatric disorders” at assessment fall into one of the following five sub groups:

• Mixed anxiety and depressive disorders
• Mood disorders
• Autistic spectrum disorders
• Learning disability global
• Psychotic disorders

There is variation in the distribution of disabling conditions between new claims and DLA reassessments. Some of this variation will relate to the nature of the condition. People with some lifelong conditions are likely to claim DLA as a child and then be reassessed for PIP when they reach the age of 16. Other conditions are more likely to affect older people who would then make a new PIP claim.

For example, while only 6% of all assessments carried out in the last 5 years have been DLA reassessments for 16-19 year olds (i.e. those moving from Child DLA to PIP), 37% of all assessments in the last 5 years within the following four disability sub groups are 16-19 year old DLA reassessment cases:

• Autistic spectrum disorders
• Hyperkinetic disorder
• Learning disability global
• Specific learning disorder

Assessment award rates (normal rules) May 2017 to April 2022 (last five years) by main disabling condition

PIP New Claims, Disability Category	Assessment award rate
Psychiatric disorders	47%
Musculoskeletal disease (general)	56%
Musculoskeletal disease (regional)	54%
Neurological disease	59%
Respiratory disease	49%

PIP Reassessed Claims, Disability Category	Assessment award rate
Psychiatric disorders	71%
Musculoskeletal disease (general)	83%
Musculoskeletal disease (regional)	80%
Neurological disease	84%
Respiratory disease	80%

Source: PIP Statistics to April 2022, Stat-Xplore

The proportion of assessments leading to an award (Assessment award rate) varies by both disabling condition and whether the claim is a new claim or a DLA reassessment claim.

• assessment award rates tend to be higher for DLA reassessments than for new claims
• for both new claims and DLA reassessments, claimants with Musculoskeletal disease (general) or Neurological disease tend to have higher assessment award rates, whereas those with Psychiatric Disorders tend to have lower assessment award rates
• other claims (from disability categories not shown in the tables above) cover a wide variety of conditions with a broad range of assessment award rates

Award types, May 2017 to April 2022 (last five years) by main disabling condition

Source: PIP Statistics to April 2022, Stat-Xplore

At the point where an award is made, the award types and review periods that are decided for the claim also differ by both disabling condition and whether the claim is new or a DLA reassessment. In particular:

• new claimants are more likely to receive short term (0-2 years) awards with reviews than DLA reassessment claimants, across all disabling conditions
• DLA reassessment claimants are more likely to receive ongoing awards than new claimants, across all disabling conditions
• those with Malignant disease are most likely to receive an award under SREL rather than a fixed term or ongoing award

For new claimants with claims awarded in the last 5 years (May 2017 to April 2022):

• 86% of those psychiatric disorders and 81% of those with Musculoskeletal disease (regional) receive short term (0-2 years) awards with reviews
• 20% of those with Musculoskeletal disease (general) and 19% of those with respiratory disease receive longer term (2+ years) awards with reviews
• 13% of those with neurological disease and those with respiratory disease receive ongoing awards

For DLA reassessment claimants with claims awarded in the last 5 years (May 2017 – April 2022):

• 41% of those with Musculoskeletal disease (regional), 39% of those psychiatric disorders and with Musculoskeletal disease (general) receive short term (0-2 years) awards with reviews
• 37% of those with Musculoskeletal disease (general and regional) receive longer term (2+ years) awards with reviews
• 51% of those with neurological disease receive ongoing awards

Planned Award Review outcomes, May 2017 to April 2022 (last five years) by main disabling condition

Disability Category	Award Increased	Award Maintained	Award Decreased	Award Disallowed
Psychiatric disorders	18%	44%	11%	28%
Musculoskeletal disease (general)	21%	52%	12%	15%
Musculoskeletal disease (regional)	17%	53%	11%	20%
Neurological disease	19%	54%	10%	17%
Respiratory disease	25%	49%	11%	15%

Source: PIP Statistics to April 2022, Stat-Xplore

The proportion of claimants receiving more (or less) benefit after their planned award review differs across the various main disabling condition groups, where condition is as recorded at the time of award review clearance.

The five most common groups account for 88% of all planned award reviews cleared between May 2017 and April 2022 (last five years). Among these groups:

• claimants with a respiratory disease were most likely to have their award increased or maintained (74%)
• claimants with psychiatric disorders were most likely to have their award decreased or disallowed (38%)

10. Annual statistics comparing outcomes for DLA reassessments

Statistics comparing outcomes pre- and post- DLA reassessment are updated on an annual basis each December. The most recent release containing this section of commentary can be found in the Personal Independence Payment statistics to October 2021 publication, released on 14 December 2021.

11. About these statistics

Changes in this release – Restructure of Release Bulletin

From the June 2022 release, a new section to this bulletin has been introduced focussing on differences between different disability groupings (9. PIP statistics by Disabling Condition) and this will be updated on an annual basis. Underlying figures in Stat-Xplore will continue to be updated quarterly so users interested in specific disability groupings can find the figures there as they do now. This change reduces the amount of content which shows little change from one quarter to the next, while retaining a detailed view of the subject area. Each quarter’s release will contain a link to the publication that contained the most recent update for this section.

Changes in this release – Status of Award Type and Review Period Statistics

In December 2019, breakdowns for Clearance tables in Stat-Xplore were introduced to show award types and review periods for initial decision outcomes. These were badged as experimental to reflect the fact that the breakdowns were new and methodologies and definitions for the statistics could develop over time. In the intervening period, there have not been any changes to methodology and from June 2022 the statistics are badged as Official Statistics in line with the rest of the PIP Clearance measures.

Changes in this release – Special Rules

There have been changes around the terminology used for people making a claim to PIP because they are approaching the end of their life due to a progressive disease.

DWP has provided support to people nearing the end of their life through the Special Rules for Terminal Illness since 1990. A recent evaluation has shown that the clinical community has moved away from using ‘terminal illness’ and has instead adopted phrases like ‘End of Life’.

Current ‘Special Rules’ for PIP apply to people who are likely to have 6 months or less to live. These rules ensure claims are dealt with quickly and sensitively. DWP is changing the current 6-month Special Rules criteria to a model which considers whether an individual is likely to be in their final year of life, that is with a 12-month time-frame. In future, Special Rules will apply to people who have 12 months or less to live, and DWP are currently taking forward the necessary legislative change for PIP in Parliament (Social Security (Special Rules for End of Life) Bill) with the change due to take effect following Royal Assent. For more detail on the Special Rules, see The ‘Special Rules’: how the benefit system supports people nearing the end of life.

PIP Official Statistics formerly referred to Special Rules for Terminal Illness (SRTI) but from June 2022 have been updated to use the term Special Rules for End of Life (SREL) instead. This change has been made for all commentary, tables, and Stat-Xplore, with footnotes added to explain the amendment.

Changes in this release – Scotland

From 21 March 2022, people living in three Local Authorities in Scotland (Dundee City, Perth and Kinross or the Western Isles (Na h-Eileanan Siar)) now make new claims to Adult Disability Payment, administered by the Scottish Government, instead of making new claims to PIP. The impact of this change is limited at this stage, affecting only 6 weeks of data for a group of Local Authorities which collectively averaged only 360 PIP registrations per month over the year to February 2022. Other PIP measures will not show any impact by April 2022 given the usual length of the PIP customer journey. The impact of this change will grow over future months and a different approach for PIP Statistics in Scotland will be taken from the September 2022 release onwards.

Data quality statement

The following PIP statistics are Official Statistics:

• registrations
• clearances & awards including award types & review periods
• award review and change of circumstance registrations and clearances
• clearance & outstanding times
• mandatory reconsideration registrations & clearances
• mandatory reconsideration clearance times
• claimants entitled to PIP
• annual statistics comparing outcomes for DLA reassessments (working age and child DLA claimants)

Official Statistics are produced in accordance with Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 and the Code of Practice for Statistics and meet high standards of trustworthiness, quality and public value.

The following PIP statistics are Experimental Statistics:

• customer journey statistics (tracking of initial decisions following a PIP assessment through to MR and appeal)

These statistics are badged as experimental to reflect the fact that the series are new and methodologies and definitions for the statistics may develop over time.

Breakdowns available

Statistics available on Stat-Xplore and in accompanying tables are further broken down by:

• geography (region, local authority and parliamentary constituency and for Stat-Xplore, Middle & Lower layer Super Output Area and Census Output Area)
• assessment status (SREL, DLA reassessment indicator and for all post-assessment measures, mobility component award level, daily living component award level)
• claimant characteristics (age, gender, State Pension Age)
• primary disability category / sub category / low level disability category (for all post-assessment measures)
• duration of current claim (for caseload)
• outcomes and review periods (for clearances)
• mean financial award amounts (for all awards in clearance and caseload series)

Rounding policy

Data in the release has been rounded as per the table below, with the exception of average clearance times which are shown as whole numbers of days or weeks.

From	To	Round to nearest
0	1,000	10
1,001	10,000	100
10,001	100,000	1,000
100,001	1,000,000	10,000
1,000,001	10,000,000	100,000
10,000,001	100,000,000	1,000,000

All changes and totals are calculated prior to rounding. Percentage changes are calculated prior to rounding and then are rounded to the nearest whole number. As all figures within this statistical summary have been rounded, they may not add up.

Retrospection

The data is subject to some minor retrospection. When a claim is first registered, it is assumed to be a new claim unless there is evidence to suggest that it is a DLA reassessment. If evidence is presented between registration and clearance, the claim will then show as a DLA reassessment clearance and will move from being a new claim registration to being a DLA reassessment registration.

Some claims may not be marked as claims under SREL at the point of registration but become an SREL claim prior to the point of clearance, and vice versa. This may lead to the figures showing fewer SREL registrations than clearances.

PIP operational roll out

On 8th April 2013, PIP was introduced as a controlled start, for new claims from people living in a limited area in the North West and part of the North East of England.

On 10th June 2013, PIP was introduced for new claims for the remaining parts of Great Britain.

From 28th October 2013, using a structured roll out to postcode areas, DWP invited DLA working age recipients to claim PIP if:

• DWP received information about a change in care or mobility needs which meant their claim had to be renewed
• the claimant’s fixed term award was due to expire
• children turned 16 years old (unless they have been awarded DLA under special rules for end of life)
• the claimant chose to claim PIP instead of DLA

Since July 2015, the remaining DLA working age recipients have been gradually invited to claim PIP.

COVID-19 changes

In response to COVID-19, DWP made a number of changes to its benefit processes to ensure people who need financial help have access to the benefit system in a timely way:

• DWP decided to temporarily suspend face-to-face health assessments. This was to reduce the risk of exposure to coronavirus and safeguard the health of those claiming health and disability-related benefits, many of whom are likely to be at greater risk due to their pre-existing health conditions. New claims and changes of circumstances were still accepted and payments continued to be made
• DWP also suspended all routine re-assessments and reviews of disability benefits – i.e. DLA to PIP reassessments and routine award reviews for those already claiming PIP. All PIP award reviews and DLA to PIP reassessments which had not yet had an assessment booked were delayed and existing awards due to expire were automatically extended to ensure continuity of financial support. Planned award reviews and some DLA reassessment activity resumed during July 2020
• COVID-19 provisions were put in place in March 2020 and the Department continues to review and amend working practices where appropriate

Summary of Customer Journey

A typical customer journey is as follows (with any steps that changed due to the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted):

1. Claimant registers their claim to PIP.

2. DWP issues the “How your disability affects you” (PIP2) form, for completion by the claimant.

3. Claimant completes and returns PIP2 form – this can lead to: a) automatic referral to the Assessment Provider (AP); b) disallowance of the claim based on the information in the PIP2 form; or c) disallowance of the claim if the claimant fails to return the PIP2 form without being identified as having additional support needs.

4. Under normal circumstances, the claimant may have their claim assessed based on the paper evidence already submitted, or may be called for a face-to-face assessment conducted by the AP. However, under COVID-19 provisions, telephone assessments replaced the face-to-face channel. The claimant may: a) attend and participate in their assessment; or b) fail to attend or participate in the assessment, which can lead to disallowance.

5. DWP makes a decision based on the AP advice and any additional evidence received. The outcome may be: a) an award (including a monetary amount of the award for both Daily Living and Mobility components, the award type and, if appropriate, the period of time that should be allowed before a review of the award takes place); or b) a disallowance due to failing the assessment.

6. Payment commences.

7. When the claim is in payment, a claimant must report any changes of circumstance relating to the claim, and this may lead to a review of the award.

8. Claims may undergo a planned award review when they reach the end of their review period (unless they received an ongoing award, where they’ll receive a light touch review after 10 years).

9. In the case of a reported change of circumstance or a planned award review, an “AR1” form is issued.

10. If the claimant disagrees with a decision on their claim, including where an award has been given, they can ask for a Mandatory Reconsideration (MR).

11. After the MR has been completed, if the claimant still disagrees with the decision they are able to lodge an appeal with HMCTS.

12. Some appeals are cleared without a tribunal hearing, where the following outcomes are possible: a) withdrawn by the customer, or struck out by the tribunal; or b) lapsed - where DWP change the decision in the customer’s favour.

13. Some appeals are cleared at a tribunal hearing, where the following outcomes are possible: a) DWP decision upheld by the tribunal; or b) DWP decision overturned by the tribunal. Under COVID-19 provisions, face to face hearings were replaced by telephone or video hearings, alongside paper-based hearings.

Personal Independence Payment in Scotland

The Scotland Act 2016 gives Scottish Parliament powers over a number of social security benefits which had been administered to Scottish clients by the Department for Work and Pensions. From 1 April 2020, Personal Independence Payment became one of the benefits to have executive competency transferred from the Department for Work and Pensions to Social Security Scotland, the executive agency of Scottish Government which is responsible for delivering the social security benefits for Scotland. From 1 September 2020, young people in Scotland can choose to remain on child DLA until the age of 18. From Autumn 2021, clients who live in Scotland and receive Disability Living Allowance for children will have their benefit replaced by Child Disability Payment. For more information see Disability Living Allowance for children in Scotland.

There is a transitional period to allow administration of this benefit to be transferred to Scotland, during which time the Department for Work and Pensions will continue to administer PIP on Social Security Scotland’s behalf. Statistics in this release therefore include Scottish PIP claims alongside the rest of Great Britain.

In the future, Scottish Government plans to replace Personal Independence Payment with Adult Disability Payment. Adult Disability Payment will be launching in 2022. Depending on where new claimants live, they will be able to apply for Adult Disability Payment rather than PIP on or after these dates:

• 21 March 2022, for those who live in Dundee City, Perth and Kinross or the Western Isles (Na h-Eileanan Siar)
• 20 June, for those who live in Angus, North Lanarkshire or South Lanarkshire
• 25 July, for those who live in Fife, Aberdeen City, Aberdeenshire, Moray, North Ayrshire, East Ayrshire or South Ayrshire
• 29 August, for those who live elsewhere in Scotland

For existing PIP claimants who live in Scotland, Social Security Scotland will begin to move clients to Adult Disability Payment from Summer 2022. PIP claimants in Scotland will be sent a letter telling them what will happen when they transfer, but will not have to do anything to start an Adult Disability Payment claim or end a PIP claim as this will be managed for them. DWP will continue to pay a PIP claim until the transfer is complete.

Where to find out more

The Personal Independence Payment statistics collection has links to this release and other releases of PIP statistics.

Read a detailed PIP statistics background and methodology document. This gives information about production of the PIP statistical release including:

• data sources
• methods
• definitions
• quality assurance steps

Build your own data tables using Stat-Xplore

View an interactive dashboard of the latest PIP statistics by region.

Read an overview of PIP.

Read the release strategy for the PIP statistics.

Related statistics

The Scottish Government have produced their own publication for PIP in Scotland

Ministry of Justice tribunals statistics.

Statistics for Employment and Support Allowance Work Capability Assessment Outcomes.

Work and Pensions Select Committee PIP and ESA assessments inquiry: supporting statistics. This ad hoc publication gives statistics about the assessment process from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and the 3 assessment providers:

• Centre for Health and Disability Assessments (CHDA)
• Capita
• Independent Assessment Services (IAS)

The release also includes statistics about the outcomes of MRs and tribunals.

12. Future plans and your feedback

Expected changes in future releases

From the September 2022 release onwards, the following changes are proposed to reflect the change in Scotland from PIP to Adult Disability Payment as detailed in the “Personal Independence Payment in Scotland” section above:

• commentary in the main body of this release will focus on statistics for England & Wales, with a separate section covering Scotland
• Stat-Xplore will continue to hold figures for Scotland alongside England & Wales. Footnotes will be added to alert users to the changes in Scotland
• static tables published as ODS/Excel files will be split to give an England & Wales version and a Scotland version

This approach allows users to access statistics for all PIP cases administered by DWP, but focuses commentary on trends affecting cases in England & Wales, while also showing the depleting caseload in Scotland.

We are keen to receive feedback about these changes. Please contact us with your comments by 26 July 2022.

Feedback and queries

If you have any queries or feedback about existing PIP Official Statistics, or the changes proposed above, please email [email protected]

ISBN: 978-1-78659-426-6