Fewer than a quarter of the of personal independence payment (PIP) claims submitted between April 2013 and March 2014 have been decided, the DWP revealed in its first statistical report on PIP claims, decisions and payments yesterday. However, the award rate for people who are not terminally ill has increased to 50%, something which the DWP are likely to be very concerned about.{jcomments on}
Between 8 April 2013 and 28 March 2014, 349,000 new claims to PIP had been made.
Up to 28 February 2014, 83,900 decisions had been made on those claims.
15,100 of the decisions were under Special Rules for Terminal Illness, where the claimant is not expected to live for longer than 6 months. 96% of these claims led to an award.
Of all new claims made under ‘normal’ rules, 59% received an award if you exclude all withdrawn claims from the calculation. 50% received an award if you include all the claims which were withdrawn before they were completed in the calculation.
The reasons for the high levels of withdrawal have yet to be revealed by the DWP. But the success rate for claims has risen from a low of 36% in August to the current high of 50%. This upward trend is likely to be causing great concern at the DWP, given that the purpose of PIP is to reduce the disability benefits bill, not increase it.
Other facts and figures relating to those awarded benefits include:
- 31% were assessed as having a malignant disease as their main disability, and 21% as having a mental illness;
- 22% received daily living award only, 10% received mobility award only, and 68% received both daily living and mobility award;
- overall, 72% received an award at the enhanced rate and 28% at the standard rate
- for normal rules new claims only, 60% received an award at the enhanced rate whereas 100% of terminally ill claimants received an enhanced award.
You can download the complete PIP official statistics from this link.
