Overview
- The DWP will lengthen review periods for most new Personal Independence Payment awards from April to three years, rising to five years at the next check if people still qualify.
- The department says longer gaps free staff for more in-person assessments, with PIP checks set to rise from 6% in 2024 to 30%, and Work Capability Assessments from 13% to 30%.
- A digital self-serve application trial for PIP, which helps people with long-term disabilities, lifted registrations by 22% in the first year and successful awards by 7% over 19 weeks.
- Conservative shadow work and pensions secretary Helen Whately urged that all assessments stay face to face and warned that easier online access could swell claims.
- Ministers project £1.9bn in savings by 2030/31 from these operational changes, with the separate Timms Review still weighing who should qualify and how assessments are run.