Your chances of being obliged to attend a PIP face-to-face assessment are still much smaller than your chance of having your award decided on the papers alone, whilst the vast majority of claimants have a telephone assessment, according to the latest government statistics.
Labour MP Olivia Blake asked Tom Pursglove, minister for disabled people, for statistics on the number and proportion of people who have a PIP face-to-face assessment as opposed to a remote (telephone or video) assessment or a paper assessment.
The proportions for March to May of this year are:
March: 6.8% face-to-face, 74.0% remote, 19.1% paper-based
April: 8.0% face-to-face, 72.3% remote, 19.1% paper-based
May: 7.7% face-to-face, 72.6% remote, 19.7% paper-based
So, over seven out of ten PIP claimants will have a remote assessment, with the vast majority of these being telephone rather than video.
Almost two out of ten will have a paper-based assessment and fewer than one in ten will have a face-to-face assessment.
The figures have changed little since we last updated our PIP guide, when 77% were telephone, 2% were video, 16% were paper and 5% were face-to-face. This means there has actually been a small increase in face-to-face assessments and paper-based assessments, with a corresponding fall in remote assessments.
Most of our readers seem to prefer a paper-based assessment, with a telephone assessment as a second choice. But some do definitely find it easier to explain their condition at a face-to-face assessment.
So, it’s important to be aware that you can ask for a review of your assessment type if you are not happy with it. Your claim will be paused while the review – and a further review if you are unhappy with the first result – is carried out.
There’s more details about this in our members 140 page PIP claim guide along with sample assessment review request letters.
You can read the full written answer on PIP assessment types here.
