A Shropshire MP has told the Commons of the ‘shambles’ PIP application system that saw one Shropshire woman wait nine months for the benefit.
North Shropshire MP Helen Morgan challenged the Government over delays to disability benefit applications during questions in the House of Commons on Monday.
North Shropshire MP Helen Morgan challenged the Government over delays to disability benefit applications during questions in the House of Commons on Monday.
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00:00 I'm taken to process a new PIP claim has fallen from 26 weeks in August 2021 to 15 weeks at the end of January of this year.
00:10 Helen Morgan.
00:12 Thank you very much Mr Speaker. I've recently helped a constituent who waited four months for an appeal to an initial PIP decision.
00:20 The paperwork for that decision was incorrect. It referred to a person that wasn't her and in fact we don't know who that person was.
00:29 It took another four months to correct that and another month to pay her.
00:34 The process could best be described in this instance as a shambles and another constituent has described it as her highly stressful bureaucratic nightmare.
00:42 I wonder if the Minister could give us some reassurance that his department are working to speed this process up and make it more dignified for those people applying for help.
00:50 Seriously, Speaker, I have set out the improvements in the processing times that people have been experiencing and in fact at 15 weeks now, which is the figure at the end of January, that is now quicker than was the case during the pandemic.
01:06 I can't comment on the individual circumstances that the Honourable Lady identifies but I would of course be very happy to look at the matter that she has raised.