Government’s new data shows under half of PIP applications are awarded
The Department for Communities has just released some new data in a report called ‘Personal Independence Payment: Experimental Statistics (May 2018)’ which highlights statistics about the Personal Independent Payment (PIP) in Northern Ireland.
PIP was introduced in June 2016 and set out to replace the Disability Living Allowance (DLA) for working age people and helps people with the extra costs caused by long-term, progressive or terminal health conditions.
However, the Department for Communities’ new data highlights that only 46 percent of new claimants are awarded for PIP, compared to 75 percent for DLA.
Additional findings show that out of just over 135,000 registrations for PIP in Northern Ireland from June 2016 to May 2018, only 113,000 have been cleared with just under 77,000 being payed.
Furthermore, one quarter of all PIP applications that have been rejected have put in a request for their situation to be re-evaluated.
The new PIP guidelines have received a fair amount of criticism since its introduction, with claimants feeling the new criteria is too strict and it has been described as having “a pervasive culture of mistrust.”
Despite this, the Government has looked to address this issue, by introducing home video assessments and excluding people with progressive, long-term health conditions from the review process.