Disability benefit claimants are often waiting more than a year for their claims to be processed, as the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) routinely misses its targets, the Commons spending watchdog has warned.
In a wide-ranging report, the cross-party Public Accounts Committee (PAC) found numerous failings at the DWP, including missed targets, unclear planning, and a lack of transparency. Just over half of new claims for Personal Independence Payment (Pip) were processed within the department’s target of 75 working days in 2024/25, well below its 75 per cent target.
MPs on the committee said they knew of “constituents who have waited a long time for their claims to be processed, in some cases over a year”. They added that people are being pushed into debt and poverty as a result, with many disability claimants now expecting “reliably poor service”, according to chair Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown. The DWP “does not have an adequate plan to improve this in the short term”, the report finds.
The committee also noted that a target to process up to 20 per cent of Pip claims using a new online service by 2026 had been pushed to 2029, branding this “far too long for claimants to have to wait to get a better service”. The DWP is testing an online application process in some areas, which has cut processing times by 20 days.
Sir Geoffrey said: “Our report exposes the incoherence with which government made these arguments, while cutting the all-important support provided by work coaches which could help those same people access the labour market.” The committee also raised concerns that reducing the first universal credit work coach meeting from 50 to 30 minutes may adversely affect support.
