PIP Delays Challenged in Court

Two disabled people have taken the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to court after waiting over nine months for their benefits.  Both unnamed claimants say they had to revert to using food banks and loan sharks to get by, while waiting for their Personal Independence Payments (PIP).  They’re now campaigning for Work and Pensions secretary, Ian Duncan Smith, to be declared as breaching his common law and human rights duties.

Legal Rights

Lawyers for both claimants said: “They had a legal right to such benefits and should have received the payments within a reasonable time.”

However, David Barr QC, legal representative for the DWP counter-argued that the number of staff working on PIPs had been increased by almost 800 when problems were highlighted.  He also said that evening and weekend working hours had been increased and better IT systems introduced to deal with the issue.

They had a legal right to such benefits and should have received the payments within a reasonable time

PIP was introduced in 2013 to replace the Disability Living Allowance (DLA).  In order to be eligible for benefits, claimants need to be assessed for suitability, but issues arose with the length of time it was taking for a decision to be met.  Whilst they were waiting, claimants were left  without access to payments and many suffered as a result.

Challenges Ahead

Minister for disabled people, Justin Tomlinson, says that currently PIP claims are being processed at five times the rate they were in January last year, but many believe the most challenging phase of the PIP rollout is still to come.   There are currently more than 22,000 disabled people who have been waiting over four months for their claim, and 3,000 who have been waiting a year or more.

For more information about PIP, visit Disability Rights.