People with disabilities are being driven into debt as they wait sometimes more than a year for their benefits claims to be processed

Keir Starmer

Sir Keir Starmer is presiding over a benefits system which lets down too many people (Image: Getty Images)

Disabled people are being pushed into debt and poverty because of “unacceptable” delays at the Department for Work and Pensions, a cross-party group of MPs has warned. People who need help with everyday life are waiting over a year or more for their claims to be processed, according to a hard-hitting report from the powerful public accounts committee.

It claims the departments lacks a proper plan to get processing times down. The report warns the long waits can “cause them to get into debt and push them into poverty”. A mere 51% of claims for Personal Independent Payments (PIP) were processed within 75 days in 2024-25.

Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, who chairs the committee, warned that people seeking help with a disability “may now expect a reliably poor service from the department”.

He said: “This is simply not good enough for our constituents, who we know risk being pushed into debt or poverty by a department unresponsive to their needs.”

Personal finance news, money saving tips and advice plus selcted offers and competitions Invalid email

We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you've consented to and to improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. You can unsubscribe at any time. Read our Privacy Policy

The Government u-turned last year in the face of a threatened Labour rebellion and stripped changes to Pip eligibility out of its welfare legislation. A review into the payments, led by social security and disability minister Sir Stephen Timms, is due to report this autumn.

Sir Geoffrey said: “The summer of last year was consumed by debate around proposed changes to the benefits system, with Government insisting changes to Pip would be mitigated by support for disabled people and people with long-term conditions to get back into work.

“Our report exposes the incoherence with which Government made these arguments, while cutting the all-important support provided by work coaches which could help those same people access the labour market.”

Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown

Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown chairs Parliament's spending watchdog (Image: SWNS)

A spokesperson for the Department for Work and Pensions said: “We’re fixing the broken welfare system we inherited by giving claimants the support they need to move into good, secure jobs and out of poverty. We’ve redeployed around 1,000 work coaches to help sick or disabled people who have been left behind, alongside the most ambitious employment reforms for a generation. “These reforms are being delivered as we replace outdated systems through our ambitious £647million modernisation programme. We always aim to make PIP award decisions as quickly as possible, and the Timms Review is looking at PIP as a whole to make sure it is fit and fair for the future.”