The latest statistics released by the DWP today show that only 45% of personal independence (PIP) claims succeed where the claimant is not terminally ill. For disability living allowance (DLA) to PIP transfers, the success rate stands at 69%.{jcomments on}
The new figures provided by the DWP show that awards for terminally ill claimants, whose death can reasonably be expected within six months stand at around 96%
The statistics also show that of all the people who got an award:
58% got the enhanced rate of the daily living component
32% got the standard rate of the daily living component
10% got no award of the daily living component
46% got the enhanced rate of the mobility component
27% got the standard rate
26% only got no award of the mobility component
Whilst the news that only 7 out of 10 DLA to PIP transfers are successful is unwelcome, a further concern is whether those claimants who do get an award of PIP are better or worse off as a result. As yet, the DWP do not seem to be providing any statistics which allow a comparison to be made.
One final issue worth noting is that the DWP say that between January and May 2014 ‘an IT issue within the PIP computer system meant that the award rate artificially increased. Likewise, the resolution of the issue in June 2014 caused a reduction in award rates.’
Whilst the DWP claim that the overall figures for the period are correct, the errors were not small: the apparent award rate plummeted from 61% in May to just 30% in June.
PIP statistics should be relatively simple to create. If the DWP can’t even manage to get this right, what hope is there of avoiding massive chaos if millions of people are ever actually transferred to universal credit?
The full PIP statistics can be downloaded here.
