Claimants with long-Covid as their main disabling conditions have now begun to appear in the PIP statistics. Although the numbers are still tiny, initial indications are that the success rate is significantly higher than the overall rate for new PIP claims.
When a PIP claimant has an assessment, a decision is made about what their main disabling condition is and this is recorded in official statistics. In this way it is possible to track how many claims are made with a specific condition and what proportion receive an award and at what rates.
Although the condition is classified by the DWP as ‘Coronavirus COVID-19’, DWP minister Justin Tomlinson has confirmed that:
Due to the nature of the qualifying period for PIP claims, these cases will all be “long COVID” or “post-COVID syndrome” cases rather than initial COVID-19 infections.”
So far, according to the DWP’s Stat-Xplore statistical tool, there have been just 34 assessments in March and April for PIP where Covid-19 was the main disabling condition. 25 of these assessments resulted in an award:
- Enhanced daily living 5
- Standard daily living 13
- Nil daily living 16
- Enhanced mobility 14
- Standard mobility 5
- Nil mobility 15
So the indications from this very small sample are that claims for long-Covid have a high success rate at 74%, compared to just 42% for new PIP claims in general.
Clearly these statistics may change as more claims are assessed.
But the vital thing to understand is that if you have been affected solely by long-Covid, or if long-Covid has made an existing condition worse, then you may be entitled to an award or a higher award of PIP.
And you do not need a formal diagnosis of long-Covid, or even to show that your initial Covid infection was severe, in order to claim.
Assessors and decision makers are told that “NICE Guidelines indicate there is no correlation between the severity of initial infection and the likelihood of experiencing long-Covid”.
So even people who had a very mild initial infection may be eligible for PIP if their condition subsequently deteriorates.
You also do not have to show that you have had a positive test result. DWP staff are told:
“Claimants do not have to have had a positive test result to be diagnosed with the syndrome; we have to remember that testing has not always been easily available”
Members can download a copy of our Long-Covid claims supplement, which gives more information about how to the DWP assess claimants for awards involving long-Covid.
