Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Conclusion 14
6th Report - DWP Customer Service and Accounts 2023-24
Published 31 Jan 2025
Addressed to HM Treasury
Public Accounts Committee DWP Customer Service and Accounts 2023-24 All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
We pressed DWP on when we would see a marked improvement in the timeliness with which new PIP claims are processed.23 DWP pointed towards the Health Transformation Programme as its long-term solution to providing a modern and timely service for disabled customers. One of the big changes would be the introduction of case management to help PIP claimants through the process as, for example, people often did not know what evidence they needed to submit alongside their claim.24 DWP acknowledged, however, that improvement would be a “long journey” because the system was so complex and the scale of the transformation required was huge.25 DWP told us it expected to have the new health assessment and PIP application processes fully in place by 2029, but hoped customers would start to see some of the benefits before then.26 It highlighted that it was currently testing on a small scale an online application system for PIP, which could potentially speed up the start of the claim process.27 21 DCSA0001 22 Q 1 23 Q 2 24 Q 21 25 Qq 2, 23 26 Q 23 27 Q 2 10 Vulnerable customers and customers with additional or complex needs
From: Public Accounts Committee, 6th Report - DWP Customer Service and Accounts 2023-24 (HC 354), 31 January 2025
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 6 May 2025.
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government agrees with most of the Committee's recommendations in this response, but disagrees with the recommendation that it set out when it expects to meet its PIP processing target.
- On PIP claim times, the government disagrees with the recommendation, stating the department "has to balance speed against the risk of inaccuracy". It says the Health Transformation Programme will modernise PIP "in the longer-term".
- On ESA calls, the government agrees and says it is recruiting 160 colleagues by March 2025. It states that customer wait times for ESA enquiries "will be improved by September 2025".
- On counter fraud, the government agrees and says that from April 2025 the department "will begin progressive deployment of an additional 3,000 staff", expecting the full number to be in role by 2027-28.
- On machine learning, the government agrees and gives a target implementation date of summer 2025. It says the department "will support an in-confidence session" on the 2024 fairness analysis assessment.