Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people are in receipt of (a) employment support allowance and (b) personal independence payment as a result of a long covid diagnosis.

In relation to your question on Employment and Support Allowance (ESA), Information on lower level medical conditions is not currently available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

The available information on the number of Employment and Support Allowance claimants by high level medical conditions is published here:

https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk

Guidance for users is available at:

https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Getting-Started.html

In respect of your question on Personal Independence Payment (PIP), the information you requested is not held by the Department. A specific diagnosis code for Long Covid does not exist in the PIP Computer System. Claimants who experience Long Covid symptoms will have a disability recorded that links with the claimant’s functional needs.

Statistics on the number PIP Claims with Entitlement broken down by disability for each month from April 2013 – October 2020 is published on Stat-Xplore:

https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk

Guidance for users is available at:

https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Getting-Started.html