PROCESSING OF PERSONAL INDEPENDENCE PAYMENTS

That this House notes with concern the lengthy delays occurring in the processing of personal independence payments (PIP), with the National Audit Office (NAO) finding that claimants wait an average of 107 days, and often significantly longer; further notes that these delays are having a severe impact on seriously ill and disabled citizens, who are pushed into financial insecurity, poverty or destitution as a result; further notes with concern the additional stress and worry these delays cause at what is already an extremely difficult time; further notes that the NAO also found that PIP will cost almost three and a half times more to administer than disability living allowance, and takes twice as much time to process; condemns the refusal to pay PIP for the first three months after someone becomes ill or disabled, further lengthening delays and leaving newly ill or disabled people without any means of support through no fault of their own; further condemns the decision to pay carer's allowance only to people who are caring for a person in receipt of PIP, exacerbating the financial strain on newly disabled people and their families; deplores that the Government has once again permitted unscrupulous, uncaring and inefficient companies such as Atos and Capita to profit from damaging the wellbeing of ill and disabled citizens; further condemns the Government's lack of compassion for disabled people; and calls on the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions to take action to address those delays as a matter of urgency.