Becky Morton<\/span>Political reporter<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n <\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n Some people are waiting more than a year to have their disability benefit claims processed, which risks pushing them into debt and poverty, MPs have warned.<\/p>\n The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) aims to process 75% of new claims for Personal Independence Payment (Pip) within 75 working days but in the last financial year only 51% of claims were processed within this timeframe.<\/p>\n A report by the cross-party Public Accounts Committee (PAC) said the department was providing “unacceptably poor service levels”.<\/p>\n The DWP said that at the end of October, the average time taken for a Pip claim to be decided on was 16 weeks.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n A spokesperson said the department always aimed to process claims “as quickly as possible” and an ongoing review into Pip would make sure “it is fit and fair for the future”.<\/p>\n Pip – which is paid to people with a long-term physical or mental health condition – is the main disability benefit in England and Wales. <\/p>\n It is not linked to someone’s income or whether they are in work and provides extra help with living costs.<\/p>\n The number of people claiming Pip has been rising in recent years, with the benefit paid to around 3.7 million people.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The PAC report said the long waits for Pip claims to be processed were “unacceptable”, with some cases of people waiting for more than a year.<\/p>\n The DWP told the committee these experiences were not showing in its statistics but it acknowledged this was a genuine situation which needed to be addressed.<\/p>\n The department is testing an online application process in a few postcodes, which it says has typically reduced processing time for claims by 20 days.<\/p>\n It had previously told the committee it intended to process up to 20% of Pip claims using the new online service by 2026 but has since said it believes it can reach this target by 2029.<\/p>\n “This is far too long for claimants to have to wait to get a better service,” the report said.<\/p>\n The committee’s chairman, Conservative MP Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, said: “Our committee received reassurances three years ago that improvements would have manifested by now; we are now told that they are a further three years off. <\/p>\n “This is simply not good enough for our constituents, who we know risk being pushed into debt or poverty by a department unresponsive to their needs.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The report also raised concerns about shortening the first meeting Universal Credit claimants have with a work coach from 50 to 30 minutes.<\/p>\n It warned that without mitigating action from government, “claimants with more complex needs may not get the support they need”.<\/p>\n![\"Getty](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/480\/cpsprodpb\/2d6f\/live\/de506470-ecbd-11f0-85c7-cf9da063a58e.jpg.webp\")
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