More than £660,000 has been paid to hundreds of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) claimants after the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) identified incorrect advice that prevented some people from claiming the benefit or resulted in payments starting from the wrong date.
New information published by the department shows that around 310 payments, averaging about £2,100 per person, have been made as part of the correction process. The issue involved claimants who were incorrectly told they could not make a PIP claim because they did not have a National Insurance number.
The DWP has said it has contacted people it identified as potentially affected and reviewed the available cases. However, the department has also confirmed that claimants who believe they may have been affected can still ask for their circumstances to be reviewed.
Error
The problem concerned advice given to some people seeking to claim PIP. Staff incorrectly told certain prospective claimants that they could not claim the benefit without a National Insurance number.
According to the DWP, this meant some people were wrongly prevented from starting a claim or received an award from an incorrect date.
The rules allow people without a National Insurance number to begin a PIP claim while applying for a number. This is intended to ensure that the absence of a National Insurance number does not unnecessarily prevent an eligible person from starting the claims process.
The correction exercise was therefore aimed at restoring benefits where the incorrect advice had affected a person’s legal entitlement.
Payments
The DWP has reported around 310 payments connected with the issue, with a combined value of more than £660,000.
| Detail | Reported figure |
|---|---|
| Payments made | Around 310 |
| Total paid | More than £660,000 |
| Average payment | About £2,100 |
The average figure does not mean every claimant received the same amount. Individual payments can differ depending on a person’s circumstances, entitlement and the period involved.
The DWP has said its responsibility is to restore legal entitlements when it becomes aware that benefits have been incorrectly denied.
Reviews
The department said it has contacted all the people it identified as potentially affected and reviewed the cases available to it.
However, the correction process does not prevent an individual from asking the DWP to look at their case.
In its update, the department said it had completed the exercise but added that claimants can still request a review if they believe they were affected.
This could be relevant to someone who previously tried to make a PIP claim but was told that they could not do so because they did not have a National Insurance number.
Anyone who believes this happened in their case may therefore wish to contact the DWP and explain the circumstances surrounding their earlier claim attempt.
PIP
PIP was introduced in April 2013 to replace Disability Living Allowance for working-age claimants. It is a non-means-tested benefit intended to help with some of the additional costs associated with a long-term health condition or disability.
Eligibility is based on how a person’s condition affects their daily living and mobility, rather than simply on having a particular diagnosis.
The benefit has two components, covering daily living and mobility needs. Depending on their circumstances, a claimant may receive one component or both.
PIP is separate from means-tested benefits, although receiving PIP can have an impact on entitlement to certain other forms of support.
Scrutiny
The payment correction comes while PIP is facing wider scrutiny from the government.
Social security minister Stephen Timms is conducting a review of the benefit, with the work expected to report in the autumn. Interim findings published earlier this year described concerns about how the current system operates and indicated that changes could be considered.
The review follows earlier government proposals involving changes to PIP eligibility. Those plans attracted opposition from some Labour MPs and generated wider debate about how disability benefits should operate.
The issue has also become part of a broader discussion about welfare spending, eligibility and the support available to people with health conditions and disabilities.
Claims
Official figures released in September showed that the number of people receiving PIP had reached a record 4.1 million as of July.
The increase in the number of claimants has added to the attention surrounding the benefit and the government’s plans for welfare reform.
Prime minister Andy Burnham has said he remains committed to welfare reform. His official spokesperson said that reform should not involve “crude cuts” that push people into crisis and create additional costs elsewhere.
The spokesperson said the government’s broader approach was focused on addressing structural factors and changing the nature of support.
For PIP claimants, the immediate issue is separate from the wider reform debate. The DWP has already made more than £660,000 in payments after identifying cases affected by incorrect advice about National Insurance numbers. People who believe they were wrongly prevented from claiming or received their benefit from the wrong date can still ask the department to review their case.
