Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work & Pensions, what estimate she has made of the clearance times for mandatory reconsiderations for personal independence payments (a) nationally and (b) in the North East of England.

The median clearance time, in calendar days, for a Personal Independence Payment (PIP) Mandatory Reconsideration (MR) to be cleared was 34 days for both Great Britain and the North East of England in the period April to October 2018.

This data on MR clearance times is unpublished data. It should be used with caution and it may be subject to future revision. Data has been provided for the period to October 2018 to be consistent with the latest official statistics that have been published on MR clearance volumes.

MR is a key element of the decision making process for both the Department and claimants, and whilst ensuring they make quality decisions, decision makers work hard to clear applications without delay. Gathering the right evidence is critical at the MR stage if decisions are not to go to appeal; and we are reviewing our processes to not only obtain this, but to do so whilst continuing to make decisions timeously.