Official Statistics

Personal Independence Payment statistics April 2013 to January 2023

Published 14 March 2023

Applies to England, Scotland and Wales

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

Coverage: England & Wales
Frequency: Quarterly
Next Release: 13 June 2023

1. Main Stories

The March 2023 release bulletin focusses on claims in England & Wales (plus abroad or unknown cases) - referred to as England & Wales throughout for simplicity - with a separate section covering Scotland to reflect the impact of Scottish devolution. Data in Stat-Xplore and the tables accompanying the release cover all claims administered by DWP, split so that Scottish figures can be considered separately. The June 2022 and earlier releases covered all claims in Great Britain, but since the introduction of Adult Disability Payment in Scotland, trends in Scottish PIP cases are diverging from the rest of the country.

Latest Personal Independence Payment (PIP) statistics show that as at 31st January 2023 there were 2.9 million claimants entitled to PIP (caseload) in England & Wales, with just over one in three cases (35%) receiving the highest level of award. There were a further 320,000 claims with entitlement to PIP (caseload) for people residing in Scotland as at 31st January 2023.

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 January 2023 there were:

• 180,000 registrations and 220,000 clearances for new claims
• 25,000 changes of circumstance reported and 29,000 cleared
• 19,000 registrations and 22,000 clearances for DLA reassessments
• 140,000 planned award reviews registered and 85,000 cleared
• 60,000 mandatory reconsiderations (MRs) registered and 61,000 cleared

Over the last five years (February 2018 to January 2023):

• 40% of normal rules new claims, 69% of normal rules DLA reassessment claims, and 99% of SREL claims received an award (excluding withdrawn claims)
• 70% of planned award reviews resulted in an increase or no change to the level of award received by the claimant
• 80% of changes of circumstances resulted in an increase or no change to the level of award received by the claimant
• 34% of MRs cleared (excluding withdrawn) have led to a change in award

For initial decisions following a PIP assessment during April 2013 to September 2022:

• 37% of completed MRs against initial decisions following a PIP assessment went on to lodge an appeal
• 16% of appeals lodged saw DWP change the decision in the customer’s favour before the appeal was heard at tribunal (known as “lapsed” appeals)
• 4% 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.

From March 2022, Scottish Government began to replace PIP with Adult Disability Payment (ADP). New claimants apply for ADP rather than PIP after specific dates depending on which Scottish Local Authority they live in, with roll out complete for the whole of Scotland from 29th August 2022 and existing PIP claimants starting to transfer to ADP from Summer 2022. While Official PIP Statistics will continue to be produced and published for all claims administered by DWP, from September 2022 the release bulletin focusses on claims in England & Wales (plus abroad or unknown cases) with a separate section of commentary covering Scotland to reflect impact of Scottish devolution.

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).

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.

From March 2023, the level of geographic detail available on Stat-Xplore has been extended to include wards, in order to bring published PIP statistics in line with other DWP statistical publications.

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 January 2023

Source: PIP Statistics to January 2023, Stat-Xplore

Between April 2013, when PIP began, and January 2023, 6.6 million claims have been registered for PIP, and 6.4 million of the registered claims have been cleared.

• 4.7 million registrations (71%) are new claims whilst 1.9 million (29%) are DLA reassessment claims
• 190,000 (3%) were registered under SREL while the rest (97%) were under normal rules
• 3.2 million clearances (51%) were awarded PIP, 3.0 million (47%) had their claim disallowed and 120,000 (2%) withdrew their claim

2.1 million claims have had a planned award review registered and 520,000 claims have reported a change in circumstances between April 2013 and January 2023.

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 and Clearances for initial claims, planned award reviews and changes of circumstance, all claims to January 2023

Source: PIP Statistics to January 2023, 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, including a temporary halt to face-to-face contact and some DLA reassessment and award review activity. In most cases activity has resumed, although new invitations to claim PIP for working age DLA claimants are not currently being sent out. For more information about COVID-19 provisions, see the background quality and methodology report.

Latest quarterly figures to January 2023 show:

• 180,000 registrations and 220,000 clearances for new claims (the highest level of clearances since PIP began, following on from the highest level of registrations last quarter)
• 25,000 changes of circumstance were reported, and 29,000 were cleared
• 19,000 registrations and 22,000 clearances for DLA reassessments
• 140,000 planned award reviews were registered and 85,000 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 the last year with the latest quarter’s registrations up by 14% for new claims, 16% for DLA reassessments, 24% for changes of circumstance and 24% for planned award reviews in the quarter ending January 2023 compared to the quarter ending January 2022
• clearance volumes have also risen for new claims (38%), planned award review clearances (17%) and changes of circumstance (82%) when comparing the quarter ending January 2023 to that ending January 2022, though DLA reassessments are at the same level
• 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 progress 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

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 January 2023

Source: PIP Statistics to January 2023, Stat-Xplore

Award rates for all claims (excluding withdrawn cases) over the period February 2018 to January 2023 (last 5 years) show that:

• 40% 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 (February 2018 - January 2023):

• 2.1 million (80%) of 2.7 million new claims had an assessment
• 730,000 (90%) of 820,000 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 February 2018 to January 2023 (last 5 years) (normal rules, excluding cases where an assessment has not been completed) show that:

• 49% of assessments result in an award for new claims
• 75% 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. For more information about these measures, see the background quality and methodology report.

Latest figures for normal rules claims cleared in the quarter ending January 2023 show:

• 44% of all new claim clearances (excluding withdrawn) and 49% of those who were assessed received an award
• 71% of all DLA reassessment clearances (excluding withdrawn) and 75% of those who were assessed received an award

Award Types and Review Periods

Source: PIP Statistics to January 2023, 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 January 2023:

• 76% of claims awarded were short term (0 to 2 years)
• 14% were longer term (over 2 years)
• 9% 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 January 2023:

• 30% of claims awarded were short term (0 to 2 years)
• 55% were longer term (over 2 years)
• 15% 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 January 2023, 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 2.9 million claims with entitlement to PIP (caseload) as at 31st January 2023.

Of these:

• 1.7 million claims are new and 1.3 million are DLA reassessments
• 27,000 (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 31st January 2023 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 the June 2022 release, and will be updated on an annual basis.

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 February 2018 to January 2023 (last five years)

Review Outcome	Planned Award Review	Change of Circumstance
Award Increased	18%	45%
Award Maintained	52%	34%
Award Decreased	9%	5%
Award Disallowed	21%	11%
Withdrawn or voluntarily relinquished	n/a	4%

Source: PIP Statistics to January 2023, Stat-Xplore

From February 2018 to January 2023 (last five years):

• 960,000 (70%) of the 1.4 million planned award reviews resulted in an increase or no change to the level of award received by the claimant
• 300,000 (80%) of the 380,000 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 2.4 of the PIP statistics: background quality and methodology report.

Clearance times (median weeks) to January 2023

Source: PIP Statistics to January 2023, England & Wales 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 (January 2023) 14 weeks “end to end” (from registration to a decision being made) and 9 weeks from the AP referral to the decision
• are shorter than the same period a year ago (22 weeks and 16 weeks respectively in January 2022)
• peaked most recently 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 to 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 (January 2023) 16 weeks “end to end” (from registration to a decision being made) and 10 weeks from the AP referral to the decision
• are shorter than the same period a year ago (25 weeks and 17 weeks respectively in January 2022)

Clearance times for SREL claims:

• are 4 working days for new claims from registration to decision. There are too few DLA reassessment SREL claims for a median to be meaningfully interpreted

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 - 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 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 January 2023, 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 (66%) related to new claims
• 720,000 (34%) 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 are 60,000 in the quarter ending January 2023 (13% lower than a year earlier)
• MR clearances rose during early 2022 peaking at 80,000 cleared in the quarter ending July 2022, before declining to 61,000 in the quarter ending January 2023 (19% lower than a year earlier)

MR clearance outcomes (excluding withdrawn MRs) to January 2023

Source: PIP Statistics to January 2023, Stat-Xplore

Over the last 5 years (February 2018 – January 2023), 34% of the 1.2 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.

• 23% of MRs cleared in the quarter ending January 2023 led to a change in award.
• Levels decreased between mid-2021 and mid-2022, stabilising at current levels since approximately May 2022. This rate is at a similar level to mid-2018.
• 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.
• 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 January 2023

Source: PIP Statistics to January 2023, 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 January 2023, the median MR clearance time was 30 calendar days for new claims and 30 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 September 2022, and for MRs and appeals to December 2022 - note that more MRs and appeals could be made and completed after December 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 September 2022 (Experimental Statistics)

Source: PIP Statistics to January 2023, Table 5A

For initial PIP decisions following an assessment during the period April 2013 to September 2022:

• there were 4.9 million initial decisions following a PIP assessment, and 63% 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)
• 37% of completed MRs then lodged an appeal
• 16% 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)
• 68% 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 4% 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 1 percentage point to 11%) in the most recent quarter of initial decision (July to September 2022) compared to the previous quarter, and is 19 percentage points lower than the same quarter the previous year
• appeals lodged which were lapsed gradually increased from 2015-16 to reach 37% across the 2020-21 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 10% in 2018-19 – but returned to 7% in 2020-21
• initial decisions following an assessment overturned at a tribunal hearing follow the same trend, reaching 3% in 2020-21 – though as these statistics are grouped by initial decision date, numbers could increase for later periods as more appeals are completed

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

9. PIP 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, PIP became one of the benefits to have executive competency transferred from the DWP to Social Security Scotland, the executive agency of Scottish Government which is responsible for delivering 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 has been a transitional period to allow administration of PIP to be transferred to Scotland, during which time DWP continued to administer PIP on Social Security Scotland’s behalf.

The Scottish Government is now replacing PIP with Adult Disability Payment (ADP), a new benefit launched in 2022. Depending on where new claimants live, they have applied for ADP 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 2022, for those who live in Angus, North Lanarkshire or South Lanarkshire
• 25 July 2022, for those who live in Fife, Aberdeen City, Aberdeenshire, Moray, North Ayrshire, East Ayrshire or South Ayrshire
• 29 August 2022, for those who live elsewhere in Scotland

For existing PIP claimants who live in Scotland, Social Security Scotland began to move clients to ADP from Summer 2022. DWP will continue to pay a PIP claim until the transfer is complete.

While Official PIP Statistics will continue to be produced and published for all claims administered by DWP, from September 2022 the main body of the release bulletin focusses on claims in England & Wales. The following section of commentary covers PIP data for Scotland to reflect impact of Scottish devolution.

PIP Cases with Entitlement in Scotland, to January 2023

Source: PIP Statistics to January 2023, Stat-Xplore

There were 320,000 claims with entitlement to PIP (caseload) for people residing in Scotland as at 31st January 2023. This is a reduction from a peak of 330,000 claims in November 2022, since customers with PIP claims in Scotland started to be transferred to ADP from Summer 2022. The statistics do not include anybody who is claiming ADP and residing in Scotland, and there are no plans to incorporate ADP statistics into this release, although they can be found as part of the Social Security Scotland statistics: publications collection published by the Scottish Government.

Scottish Monthly Registrations and Clearances for initial PIP claims, planned award reviews and changes of circumstance, all claims to January 2023

Source: PIP Statistics to January 2023, Stat-Xplore

Latest quarterly figures in Scotland to January 2023 show:

• 150 registrations and 7,000 clearances for new claims
• 490 changes of circumstance were reported, and 2,200 were cleared
• 30 registrations and 390 clearances for DLA reassessments
• 80 planned award reviews were registered and 9,800 were cleared

Since the introduction of ADP:

• new claim registrations reduced over June-August 2022, with 34% fewer new claims over this three month period compared to average monthly volumes in the period January-May 2022. Equivalent figures for England & Wales saw 1% more new claims across the same period
• from 29 August 2022 onwards, applications for support because of disability or long term ill-health in Scotland should be made to ADP rather than PIP. However, a small proportion of people choose to initiate their claim via PIP systems and their details will be passed over to Social Security Scotland to convert to an ADP claim. Such registrations are known as “applications in the alternative”, and volumes of these are very low, with fewer than 100 claims per month between November 2022 and January 2023, across both new claims and DLA reassessment claims. These applications should not give rise to an assessment or the initiation of a PIP claim and when they are cleared they will show in the statistics as “Disallowed pre-referral to the AP due to other reason”
• new claim clearances rose during the first part of 2022, peaking at 8,000 in July 2022, but gradually reducing over subsequent months, and have seen a sharper decrease since December 2022. Only 1,000 new claims were cleared in January 2023 which reflects the fact that most of the new claim registrations prior to 29 August 2022 have now been cleared. The subsequent decline in clearances is expected to continue in line with the reduction in registrations
• planned award review clearances in Scotland increased from July 2022 so that the Department can clear reviews in advance of transfer to ADP. Volumes peaked in August 2022 (at 10,000 in the month, around 4 times the levels of 2,500 per month averaged across the period January-June 2022) and reduced subsequently, though still remaining high with 3,300 cleared in January 2023
• fewer changes of circumstance were reported in Scotland in the latest quarter (490 in the quarter ending January 2023) compared to a year earlier (2,400 in the quarter ending January 2022)
• it is expected that in the future, volumes will reduce across all activities in Scotland as cases gradually transfer to ADP

Prior to the introduction of ADP, trends in registrations and clearances in Scotland followed broadly similar patterns to those in England and Wales, described in more detail in Section 3 of this release. Key points include:

• 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
• COVID-19 provisions were put in place from March 2020. There were major changes in DWP policy and customer behaviour, including a temporary halt to face-to-face contact and some DLA reassessment and award review activity. In most cases activity has resumed, although new invitations to claim PIP for working age DLA claimants are not currently being sent out. For more information about COVID-19 provisions, see the background quality and methodology report

Clearance Times in Scotland

In the September 2022 release, static tables published as ODS/Excel files were split to give an England & Wales version and a Scotland version, containing Clearance Times, Outstanding Times, MR Clearance Times and Customer Journey Statistics.

However, from the March 2023 release onwards, the Scottish tables will only contain the MR Clearance Time and Customer Journey Statistics, and these will also be stopped at some future point. Scottish clearance and outstanding times in median weeks have been discontinued since results for any remaining residual claims could be misleading. As at 31st January 2023, 2,000 claims registered prior to 29th August 2022 were still in process in Scotland but volumes are expected to reduce to zero eventually.

10. PIP statistics by Disabling Condition

Commentary exploring the variation that appears in the different stages of the PIP journey across different disabling conditions will be updated on an annual basis, and the most recent release containing this section can be found in the Personal Independence Payment statistics to April 2022 publication, released on 14 June 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.

11. 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 2022 publication, released on 13 December 2022.

12. About these statistics

Changes in this release:

In the September 2022 release, static tables published as ODS/Excel files were split to give an England & Wales version and a Scotland version, containing Clearance Times, Outstanding Times, MR Clearance Times and Customer Journey Statistics. However, from the March 2023 release onwards, the Scottish tables will only contain the MR Clearance Time and Customer Journey Statistics, and these will also be stopped at some future point. Scottish clearance and outstanding times in median weeks have been discontinued since results for any remaining residual claims could be misleading. As at 31st January 2023, 2,000 claims registered prior to 29th August 2022 were still in process in Scotland but volumes are expected to reduce to zero eventually.

From March 2023, the level of geographic detail available on Stat-Xplore has been extended to include wards, in order to bring published PIP statistics in line with other DWP statistical publications.

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, Ward, 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.

Summary of Customer Journey

A typical customer journey is as follows:

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 telephone, video, or face-to-face assessment conducted by the AP. 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.

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. They also publish statistics on benefits for carers and disability assistance which includes Adult Disability Payment, the Scottish benefit replacing PIP.

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.

13. Future plans and your feedback

Expected changes in future releases:

The department has started development work to extend the existing Customer Journey Statistics on initial (New Claim and DLA Reassessment) PIP decisions to include decisions following an Award Review (AR) or Change of Circumstance (CoC) – tracking these decisions through to Mandatory Reconsideration (MR) and appeal. The current plan is to publish these extended statistics in the September 2023 release, and update on a quarterly basis thereafter. Your feedback on this or any other development is welcomed.

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: 978-1-78659-429-7