Overview
- Only about 51% of Personal Independence Payment claims were processed within the Department for Work and Pensions’ 75‑day target in 2024/25, with some people waiting over a year, the PAC reported.
- The PAC urged the department to publish fuller waiting‑time data and warned poor service levels could persist without further action.
- From April 2026, the DWP plans to raise face‑to‑face assessments to 30% for both PIP and Work Capability Assessments and to extend most PIP review intervals to at least three years, rising to five years at the next review.
- Ministers project £1.9bn in savings by 2030/31 alongside a £647m IT modernisation, a pilot online PIP application in selected postcodes, and the redeployment of around 1,000 work coaches.
- Payments for new Universal Credit sickness‑element claimants will be halved from April unless they have a severe lifelong condition, while disability groups say assessment quality and waiting times still fail claimants and point to the ongoing Timms Review.