Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Helen Morgan and Mel Stride

Monday 13th May 2024 Commons Chamber

[Helen Morgan (North Shropshire) (LD)]

1. What assessment he has made of the adequacy of the average time taken to decide the outcome of personal independence payment applications.

[The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Mel Stride)]

The time taken to process a new PIP claim fell from 26 weeks in August 2021 to 15 weeks at the end of January this year.

[Helen Morgan]

I have recently helped a constituent who waited four months for an appeal against an initial PIP decision. The paperwork for that decision was incorrect—it referred to another person; we do not know who that person was—and it took another four months to correct that, and another month to pay her. The process could best be described as a shambles. Another constituent has described it as a “highly stressful, bureaucratic nightmare”. Will the Secretary of State give us some reassurance that his Department is working to speed up the process and make it more dignified for those people applying for help?

[Mel Stride]

I set out the improvement in the processing times that people have been experiencing. In fact, we are now at 15 weeks—that was the figure at the end of January —which is quicker than was the case during the pandemic. I cannot comment on the individual circumstances that the hon. Lady has identified, but I will of course be happy to look at the matter that she has raised.