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<p>We are committed to ensuring people can access financial support through Personal
Independence Payment (PIP) in a timely manner.</p><p> </p><p>We originally introduced
a pause for most Disability Living Allowance (DLA) to Personal Independence Payment
(PIP) reassessment activity as part of our response to the COVID-19 pandemic on 23
March 2020; the exception being for DLA claimants who reported a change in needs.</p><p>
</p><p>We are currently experiencing unprecedented levels of new claims to PIP. Reducing
customer journey times for PIP claimants is a priority for the department and we are
working constantly to make improvements to our service.</p><p> </p><p>To ensure we
have the capacity in place to prioritise new claims and changes in circumstances,
we are continuing to pause activity to randomly invite eligible adult DLA claimants
to claim PIP. However, we are still continuing to invite DLA claimants to make a claim
if they fall into one of the following categories:</p><ul><li>on reaching age 16;</li><li>are
nearing the end of their DLA award; or</li><li>report a change of circumstances.</li></ul><p>
</p><p>Additionally, current DLA claimants who wish to move to claim PIP can do so.
DLA claimants who claim PIP in these circumstances continue to receive their DLA while
their PIP claim is being assessed.</p><p> </p><p>This action, combined with improvements
we have made to the claimant journey, has meant we are seeing a gradual improvement
in new claim clearance times and the latest statistics show that the average end-to-end
journey has steadily reduced from 26 weeks in August 2021 to 18 weeks at the end of
July 2022.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p>
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