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DWP PIP: Five common application mistakes as Brits face three-month wait for assessment

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The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is overwhelmed by an ever-increasing number of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) claims as a staggering 3.5 million people are now out of work due to ill health or disability.

With applications surging over the past year, many new entrants to the system are facing agonising three-month waits before their PIP support kicks in. The tally of working-age people deemed too ill or disabled to work has soared dramatically in the aftermath of Covid and amid unprecedented delays to NHS services, both routine and specialist.




This increase means a greater demand for financial assistance to meet the additional costs associated with their health conditions. However, with evaluation wait times stretching to a grueling 12 weeks and only a 40 percent chance of an application being accepted, the path to a potential denial of your application can be financially crippling.

READ MORE: DWP suspends benefit payments to more than 180,000 claimants after deadline passes

So it’s crucial to know the five main hurdles that often plague claimants during the process. But there is a silver lining if the wait to receive your initial PIP payment is causing you undue stress: the DWP promises to backdate your first payment to the date you initially submitted your claim.

And change may be on the horizon, as the Labour manifesto promises: “work capability assessment is not working and needs to be reformed or replaced.”

Top 5 Things to Know About PIP Before Filing a Claim

  1. Entitlement to PIP is not based solely on an individual’s health status or disability, but on the long-term impact that a health status or disability has on an individual’s daily life or mobility.
  2. To qualify for PIP, the impacts of a health condition or disability must have been present for 3 months and are expected to last for at least 9 more months.
  3. PIP applicants will undergo a functional assessment which will take into account how their health condition or disability affects 12 key daily activities that are essential to living an independent life.
  4. If a person can perform the mobility and daily living activities of the PIP safely, at an acceptable level, repeatedly and within a reasonable period of time, without the support of someone or without using equipment, it is unlikely They will receive PIP.
  5. When applying for PIP, people should provide all relevant information they already have about how their health condition affects them. This can mean that a health professional can assess the application using this information and does not need a face-to-face or virtual consultation, and a decision can be made more quickly. The DWP says that people should not request new documents for their application as these may attract a fee, for example from GPs.

12 PIP activities considered in the evaluation

  • Preparing food
  • Eating and drinking
  • Treatment management
  • Washing and bathing
  • Management of health needs
  • Dressing and undressing
  • Release
  • Reading
  • Mix with other people
  • Making decisions about money
  • Go out
  • Moving around

The DWP or Social Security Scotland will assess how difficult everyday tasks and mobility are for you.

For each task the following will be taken into account:

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