Official Statistics

Personal Independence Payment: Official Statistics to January 2022

Published 15 March 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: 14 June 2022

1. Main Stories

Latest Personal Independence Payment (PIP) statistics show that as at 31st January 2022 there were 2.9 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 January 2022 there were:

• 170,000 registrations for new claims
• 23,000 reported changes of circumstance
• 19,000 registrations for DLA reassessments
• 130,000 planned award review registrations
• 75,000 MR registrations

From April 2013 to January 2022:

• 6.4 million claims to PIP were registered
• 6.1 million claims have been cleared, with 42% of normal rules new claims, 71% of normal rules DLA reassessment claims, and 99% of SRTI claims receiving an award (excluding withdrawn claims)
• 1.9 million claims had a planned award review registered
• 470,000 claims reported a change in circumstances
• 2.0 million Mandatory Reconsiderations (MRs) have been registered and almost all of these have been cleared

For initial decisions following a PIP assessment during April 2013 to September 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 terminal ill-health. 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 terminal illness (SRTI).

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:

• some restructuring of this summary to reduce the amount of content which shows little change from one quarter to the next, while retaining a detailed view of the subject area
• initial 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 January 2022

Source: PIP Statistics to January 2022, Stat-Xplore

Between April 2013, when PIP began, and January 2022, 6.4 million claims have been registered for PIP, and 6.1 million of the registered claims have been cleared.

Of these:

• 4.4 million registrations (69%) are new claims whilst 2.0 million (31%) are DLA reassessment claims
• 190,000 (3%) were registered under SRTI while the rest (97%) were under normal rules
• 3.2 million clearances (52%) were awarded PIP, 2.8 million (46%) had their claim disallowed and 110,000 (2%) withdrew their claim

1.9 million claims have had a planned award review registered and 470,000 claims have reported a change in circumstances between April 2013 and January 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 January 2022

Source: PIP Statistics to January 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 January 2022 show:

• 170,000 registrations and 180,000 clearances for new claims
• 23,000 changes of circumstance were reported, and 18,000 were cleared
• 19,000 registrations and 23,000 clearances for DLA reassessments
• 130,000 planned award reviews were registered and 80,000 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 20% for new claims, 7% for changes of circumstance and 17% for planned award reviews in January 2022 compared to a year previously, though DLA reassessment registrations are down by 20% over the same period
• clearances show even higher levels of increase for new claims (58%) and changes of circumstance (41%) when comparing January 2022 to January 2021, though planned award review clearances are 37% lower and DLA reassessment clearances are only 2% higher
• 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

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 2022

Source: PIP Statistics to January 2022, Stat-Xplore

Award rates for all claims (excluding withdrawn cases) between April 2013 and January 2022 show that:

• 42% receive an award for normal rules new claims
• 71% receive an award for normal rules DLA reassessment claims
• 99% of SRTI claimants are awarded PIP

By the end of January 2022:

• 3.1 million (76%) of new claims had an assessment
• 1.8 million (91%) of 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 between April 2013 and January 2022 (normal rules, excluding cases where an assessment has not been completed) show that:

• 54% of assessments result in an award for new claims
• 78% 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 January 2022 show:

• 42% of all new claim clearances (excluding withdrawn) and 47% of those who were assessed received an award
• 68% of all DLA reassessment clearances (excluding withdrawn) and 71% of those who were assessed received an award

Assessment award rates vary by disabling condition. 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.

Of those claims that have had an assessment under normal rules, 81% of new claims and 88% of DLA reassessment claims are recorded as having one of the five most common disabling conditions:

• psychiatric disorders (which includes mixed anxiety and depressive disorders)
• musculoskeletal disease (general)
• musculoskeletal disease (regional)
• neurological disease
• respiratory disease

Assessment award rates (new claims, normal rules) by main disabling condition to January 2022

PIP New Claim Assessment Award Rates (normal rules)	Percentage
Psychiatric disorders	51%
Musculoskeletal disease (general)	60%
Musculoskeletal disease (regional)	58%
Neurological disease	61%
Respiratory disease	55%
Other	49%

Source: PIP Statistics to January 2022, Stat-Xplore

Assessment award rates (reassessed claims, normal rules) by main disabling condition to January 2022

PIP Reassessed Claim Assessment Award Rates (normal rules)	Percentage
Psychiatric disorders	73%
Musculoskeletal disease (general)	85%
Musculoskeletal disease (regional)	82%
Neurological disease	84%
Respiratory disease	82%
Other	71%

Source: PIP Statistics to January 2022, Stat-Xplore

Those claims shown as “other” in the tables cover a wide variety of conditions with a broad range of assessment award rates.

Clearance and award data is available from Stat-Xplore, broken down by a range of factors including award level, age, gender 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 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 2.9 million claims with entitlement to PIP (caseload) as at 31st January 2022.

Of these:

• 1.5 million claims are new and 1.4 million are DLA reassessments
• 30,000 (1%) were registered under SRTI 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 2022 receive the highest level of award, with both daily living and mobility components received at the enhanced rate.

The two most commonly recorded disabling conditions for claims under normal rules are ‘Psychiatric disorder’ (37% of claims), and ‘Musculoskeletal disease (general)’ (a further 21% of claims).

More information on claims with entitlement (caseload), clearances and awards by a range of factors including disability 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)

Note that recording procedures were updated on 25th June 2016, and prior to this the reported outcome did not show whether an award review resulted in an increase or decrease in the level of award that the claimant received.

Review outcomes from 25th June 2016 to January 2022

Review Outcome	Planned Award Review	Change of Circumstance
Award Increased	18%	45%
Award Maintained	47%	30%
Award Decreased	12%	7%
Award Disallowed	22%	13%
Withdrawn or voluntarily relinquished	n/a	5%

Source: PIP Statistics to January 2022, Stat-Xplore

From 25th June 2016 to January 2022:

• 1 million (66%) of the 1.6 million planned award reviews resulted in an increase or no change to the level of award received by the claimant
• 290,000 (75%) 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

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 87% of all planned award reviews cleared between June 2016 and January 2022. Among these groups:

• claimants with a respiratory disease were most likely to have their award increased or maintained (73%)
• claimants with psychiatric disorders were most likely to have their award decreased or disallowed (39%)

Planned Award Review outcomes by main disabling condition, from 25th June 2016 to January 2022

Disabling condition	Award Increased	Award Maintained	Award Decreased	Award Disallowed
Psychiatric disorders	17%	43%	11%	28%
Musculoskeletal disease (general)	21%	51%	13%	15%
Musculoskeletal disease (regional)	17%	51%	12%	20%
Neurological disease	19%	53%	11%	18%
Respiratory disease	25%	48%	12%	15%
Other	17%	44%	12%	27%

Source: PIP Statistics to January 2022, Stat-Xplore

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

6. Clearance outcomes – Award Types and Review Periods (Experimental statistics)

When PIP is awarded, decisions are also 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 SRTI, 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.

Percentage of award types to January 2022

Source: PIP Statistics to January 2022, Stat-Xplore

Most new claimants receive an award of 2 years or less. DLA reassessment claimants tend to receive longer awards. Only a very small proportion (less than 1%) of normal rules claimants receive a short term award without review or do not have an award period recorded.

Trends over time have tended to differ between new and reassessed claims. During early periods (pre-July 2013 for new claims and pre-July 2014 for reassessed claims) breakdowns by award type should be treated with caution as proportions were volatile when volumes were low.

For normal rules new claims:

• in the quarter ending January 2022, 81% of claims awarded were short term (0 to 2 years), 9% were longer term (over 2 years) and 10% were ongoing

For normal rules DLA reassessment claims:

• in the quarter ending January 2022, short term 0 to 2 year awards were the most common award type (45% of all claims awarded) followed by longer term claims over 2 years (36%) and ongoing awards (18%)
• patterns in award types are different in recent months since overall numbers of DLA reassessment clearance are low at this time and reassessment activity is not taking place for all types of claim

Award types by condition to January 2022

Source: PIP Statistics to January 2022, Stat-Xplore

Award types and review periods also differ by main disabling condition.

In particular:

• DLA reassessment claimants are more likely to receive ongoing awards than new claimants across all disabling conditions
• 79% of new claimants with psychiatric disorders receive short term awards with reviews, compared to 34% of DLA reassessed claimants
• most new claimants with a malignant disease claim under SRTI (64%)
• since PIP was introduced, 50% of successful DLA reassessed claimants with neurological diseases received an ongoing award

Further detail on clearances by a range of factors including award type, review period and disability is available from Stat-Xplore.

7. 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 January 2022

Source: PIP Statistics to January 2022, Tables 1A & 1B accompanying this release.

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 2022) 22 weeks “end to end” (from registration to a decision being made) and 17 weeks from the AP referral to the decision
• are longer than the same period a year ago (19 weeks and 15 weeks respectively in January 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 (January 2022) 25 weeks “end to end” (from registration to a decision being made) and 17 weeks from the AP referral to the decision
• are higher than the same period a year ago (21 weeks and 15 weeks respectively in January 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 SRTI claims:

• are 3 working days for new claims and 4 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 – 3 accompanying this release.

8. 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 January 2022, 2.0 million MRs had been registered against normal rules claims, and almost all of these had been cleared. Of these:

• 1.3 million (63%) related to new claims
• 750,000 (37%) related to reassessed DLA claims
• 160,000 (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 (75,000 in the quarter ending January 2022) are 21% 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, dropped but rose again in recent months with 86,000 cleared in the quarter ending January 2022

MR clearance outcomes (excluding withdrawn MRs) to January 2022

Source: PIP Statistics to January 2022, Stat-Xplore

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

• 36% of MRs cleared in January 2022 led to a change in award. This proportion has shown a gradual decrease since mid-2021. There is work ongoing within the Department to understand this trend further
• 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 refer to the median time taken to process an MR from the time it is registered by the claimant to a decision being made.

MR clearance times (median calendar days) to January 2022

Source: PIP Statistics to January 2022, Table 4A

In January 2022, the median MR clearance time was 64 calendar days for both new claims and 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.

9. 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 2021, and for MRs and appeals to December 2021 – note that more MRs and appeals could be made and completed after December 2021, 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 terminally ill people (SRTI)

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 2021 (Experimental statistics)

Source: PIP Statistics to January 2022, Table 5A

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

• there were 4.7 million initial decisions following a PIP assessment, and 65% were awarded PIP
• 1.1 million MRs have been registered about the 4.7 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 10 percentage point to 31%) in the most recent quarter of initial decision (July to September 2021) compared to the previous quarter, and is 3 percentage points higher than the same quarter the previous year
• appeals lodged which were lapsed gradually increased from 2015 to 2016 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 10% in 2018 to 2019
• initial decisions following an assessment overturned at a tribunal hearing gradually increased and was 6% in 2018 to 2019 – 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.

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

The National Tables that accompany this publication have been significantly re-formatted in order to conform to the latest Government Statistical Service guidelines on releasing statistics in spreadsheets. The aim of this guidance is to improve the usability, accessibility and machine readability of statistical spreadsheets.

Also, from the March 2022 release, static tables containing award rates and assessment award rates are no longer being produced. Instead, users can obtain these figures for themselves by using Stat-Xplore to retrieve ready-made tables containing count data for total clearances, awards and assessments, and performing basic percentage rate calculations. Further guidance on how to complete these steps can be found at National Tables: Notes 6A accompanying this release.

Data quality statement

The following PIP statistics are Official Statistics:

• registrations
• clearances & awards
• 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:

• award types & review periods
• award review and change of circumstance registrations and clearances
• 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 (SRTI, 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 SRTI at the point of registration but become an SRTI claim prior to the point of clearance, and vice versa. This may lead to the figures showing fewer SRTI registrations than clearances.

PIP operational roll out

On 8 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 10 June 2013, PIP was introduced for new claims for the remaining parts of Great Britain.

From 28 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 the special rules for terminally ill people)
• 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
• 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 June 2022 release, it is planned to reduce the frequency of the commentary on various sections of this release. All tables and charts showing breakdowns by disability based on cumulative figures from April 2013 onwards (or July 2016 onwards in the case of Award Review Outcomes) will be moved into a section focussing on differences between different disability groupings, and this section 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 is intended to streamline the release and reduce 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.

In addition, section 6 of this release, which looks at detailed breakdowns for Experimental Statistics on Clearance outcomes by Award Type and Review Period will be removed from future publications though key figures will instead be included in section 4: Clearance Outcomes – Awards.

As mentioned in the section on Personal Independence Payment in Scotland, from 21 March 2022, people living in certain parts of Scotland (Dundee City, Perth and Kinross or the Western Isles) will make new claims for Adult Disability Payment rather than PIP. Discussions are ongoing as to how best to present PIP statistics for Scotland and for Great Britain as a whole in future releases.

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

Feedback and queries

If you have any queries or feedback about existing PIP Official Statistics, or the changes proposed above, please email cm.analysis.research@dwp.gov.uk

ISBN: 978-1-78659-246-0