Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 8 January 2025 to Question 21325 on Social Security Benefits: Appeals, whether her Department has been able to recover the backlog of mandatory reconsideration cases.

The PIP Mandatory Reconsideration (MR) backlog was on track to be cleared in March 2025. However, intakes have been higher than anticipated, which meant the backlog was not cleared as predicted. We are increasing resources available for PIP MRs by recruiting decision makers.

In April 2025, the median MR clearance time was 61 and 59 calendar days for new claims and DLA reassessments respectively, a reduction of 10 and 12 days respectively in relation to the last quarter.