Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Conclusion 26
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)
Underpayment rates are highest for disability benefits. In 2023–24, the unfulfilled eligibility rate for Disability Living Allowance was 11.1% (£750 million) and for Personal Independence Payment was 4.0% (£870 million). The most common reason for underpayments is customers failing to inform DWP that their condition has worsened or their needs have increased, 48 C&AG’s Report (on accounts), para 4; C&AG’s Report, An Overview of the Department for Work & Pensions for the new Parliament 2023–24, October 2024, page 22 49 C&AG’s Report (on accounts), para 21 50 C&AG’s Report (on accounts), para 14 51 C&AG’s Report (on accounts), para 21 14 meaning they would have been entitled to more financial support.52 These underpayments leave the claimants affected with less money than they should have, increasing the risk of them facing financial hardship.53
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.