DWP PIP claimants ‘risked being pushed into debt or poverty’ amid ‘poor’ service | Personal Finance | Finance

Some people are enduring waits of over a year for their disability benefit claims to be processed due to “unacceptably poor service levels”, according to findings by the Commons spending watchdog. The Public Accounts Committee (PAC), an influential parliamentary group, has issued warnings that these lengthy delays can plunge people into debt and poverty.

In a report released on Friday, the committee criticised the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) for failing to meet its target for processing new Personal Independence Payment (PIP) claims and for lacking an “adequate plan” to reduce waiting times. The committee revealed that only 51% of claims were processed within the target period of 75 working days in 2024/25, falling short of the department’s goal to process 75% of new PIP claims within this timeframe.

The report stated: “It is unacceptable how long some PIP claimants are having to wait for their claims to be processed, which can cause them to get into debt and push them into poverty.

“The Department does not have an adequate plan to improve this in the short term.”

Committee MPs reported they were aware of “constituents who have waited a long time for their claims to be processed, in some cases over a year”.

PIP is a benefit designed to assist with additional living costs for individuals with a long-term physical or mental health condition or disability who struggle with certain daily tasks.

The committee noted that while the department said the experiences they described “were not showing in its statistics”, the DWP “acknowledged that it was obviously a genuine situation that it needed to address”.

The department revealed it was trialling a digital application process in certain regions which has reduced claim processing times by 20 days.

The committee further highlighted that a previously announced DWP target to handle up to 20% of PIP claims through the new online service by 2026 had been delayed until 2029, describing this as “far too long for claimants to have to wait to get a better service”.

Among its recommendations and requests, it has urged the DWP to supply more comprehensive data on waiting times, including the longest wait recorded in 2024/25.

A policy reversal in summer 2025 saw changes to PIP eligibility removed from the Government’s welfare legislation, following warnings from rebel Labour MPs about the consequences for disabled claimants.

An ongoing examination into PIP, headed by social security and disability minister Sir Stephen Timms, is expected to conclude by autumn – though the Government has said an interim update is expected before then. Additional concerns raised by the committee centred on the DWP’s lack of certainty that reducing initial Universal Credit appointments with work coaches from 50 to 30 minutes wouldn’t compromise the quality of support offered.

The committee urged the department to outline how it would assess the consequences of this reduction.

The report also demanded improved transparency regarding job centre performance to “enable effective local scrutiny”, and whilst acknowledging the DWP’s intentions to tackle risks linked to outdated IT infrastructure, warned that “implementing these plans over the next three years will be highly challenging”.

The report stated: “We are concerned that the department may not be able to deliver on schedule, and that unacceptably poor service levels could continue for some time.”

PAC chairman Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown said the committee’s investigation had revealed that those claiming disability benefits “may now expect a reliably poor service” from DWP.

He continued: “Our committee received reassurances three years ago that improvements would have manifested by now; we are now told that they are a further three years off. This is simply not good enough for our constituents, who we know risk being pushed into debt or poverty by a department unresponsive to their needs.

“The summer of last year was consumed by debate around proposed changes to the benefits system, with Government insisting changes to Pip would be mitigated by support for disabled people and people with long-term conditions to get back into work.

“Our report exposes the incoherence with which Government made these arguments, while cutting the all-important support provided by work coaches which could help those same people access the labour market.

“Our focus will remain trained on what mitigating action will be taken by DWP on this issue, as well as its overall efforts to modernise its services by reducing its reliance on out-of-date technology. For claimants who rely upon this system’s proper functioning, this programme of transformation cannot come quickly enough.”

The DWP said that at the end of October, the average time taken for a PIPclaim to be decided on was 16 weeks.

A department spokesperson said: “We’re fixing the broken welfare system we inherited by giving claimants the support they need to move into good, secure jobs and out of poverty.

“We’ve redeployed around 1,000 work coaches to help sick or disabled people who have been left behind, alongside the most ambitious employment reforms for a generation.

“These reforms are being delivered as we replace outdated systems through our ambitious £647 million modernisation programme.

“We always aim to make Pip award decisions as quickly as possible, and the Timms Review is looking at Pip as a whole to make sure it is fit and fair for the future.”