One in 10 working age adults are on the main disability benefit in England and Wales, latest figures have shown.
New data from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) revealed there were 3.93 million claimants entitled to Personal Independent Payment (PIP) as of January this year.
This is up by 233,080, or 6 per cent, from 3.69 million a year earlier.
It was also a 1 per cent increase from the end of October, while more than a third (37 per cent) of claimants received the highest level of award of £187.45 per week.
The 3.93million people entitled to PIP in England and Wales is around 10 per cent of the working age population (16 to 64 year-olds) in the two countries of 37.5 million.
The number of claimants has almost doubled since comparable figures began seven years ago in January 2019, when the total stood at 2.05 million.
PIP is intended to help with everyday tasks and extra living costs if someone has a long-term physical or mental health condition or disability.
Since PIP was first introduced in April 2013 – to replace the previous Disability Living Allowance – until January this year, there have been 4.5 million successful PIP claims.
This is the equivalent of nearly 1,000 successful PIP claims a day over the 13-year period.
The Government last year attempted to restrict access to PIP by tightening the rules, but Sir Keir Starmer was forced to abandon the changes due to a huge Labour revolt.
But the Prime Minister remains under pressure to get a grip on Britain’s ballooning benefits bill.
Since PIP was first introduced in April 2013 – to replace the previous Disability Living Allowance – until January this year, there have been 4.5 million successful PIP claims
New data from the Department for Work and Pensions revealed there were 3.9 million claimants entitled to Personal Independent Payment (PIP) as of January this year
The Government last year attempted to restrict access to PIP by tightening the rules, but Sir Keir Starmer was forced to abandon the changes due to a huge Labour revolt
The Office for Budget Responsibility has forecast that Britain’s total spending on health and disability benefits will rise to nearly £110billion a year by the start of the next decade.
This includes an estimated £81.5billion spent on health and disability benefits for Britain’s working-age population.
Teenagers and young adults account for a growing proportion of those getting PIP.
Some 16.6 per cent of claimants in January this year were aged 16-29, up from 14.6 per cent in January 2019.
There has been a similar rise for the 30-44 age group, which accounted for 21 per cent in January this year, up from 19 per cent in 2019.
By contrast, 45-59 year-olds made up 29.2 per cent of claimants in January, down from 37.4 per cent in 2019.
The figure for 60-74 year-olds has risen slightly over this period, from 29 per cent to 31 per cent.
The Tories said there had been 320,000 new PIP claims since Labour won power at the 2024 general election.
They also pointed to an ‘extraordinary collapse’ in face-to-face PIP assessments, with most now being conducted by telephone.
Senior Conservative MP Helen Whately, the shadow work and pensions secretary, said: ‘PIP claims are out of control. The Government has no grip over the welfare system.
‘They promised reform but then Keir Starmer U-turned under pressure from Labour backbenchers.
‘They promised to bring back face-to-face assessments – but that’s a broken promise too. All they are doing is spending more and more money on benefits.’
The Institute for Fiscal Studies think tank pointed to how the 27,000 new PIP awards per month in the three months to January was 8 per cent lower than the previous quarter and 37 per cnet below the level seen during the post-Covid peak.
But they added this level of new awards was still 38 per cent higher than that seen before the pandemic.
Sam Ray-Chaudhuri, research economist at the IFS, said: ‘Today’s statistics show a further decline in the number of people starting a disability benefit award each month.
‘They will make easy reading for the Government, who have expressed concern about the number of recipients of and spending on these benefits.
‘Only time will tell whether this recent pattern will persist. But even if it does, the fiscal cost of the sharp rise in claimants seen since the pandemic is likely to be long-lasting, as recipients typically stay on these benefits for many years.’
A DWP spokesperson said: ‘The growth in the PIP caseload has slowed significantly under this Government, falling from 400,000 in the 12 months to July 2024, to 270,000 in the 12 months to January 2026.
‘We’re fixing the broken system we inherited by creating a welfare state that works for disabled people and taxpayers and have launched the Timms Review, co-produced with disabled people and their representative organisations – to make sure PIP is fit and fair for the future.’
On Monday, Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden expressed confidence he would be able to win Labour MPs’ support in a renewed bid for welfare reform.
‘I see no reason why Labour MPs should not support welfare reform that has work and opportunity at its heart,’ he said, as he stressed there was an ‘urgent’ need to turn the ‘welfare state’ to a ‘working state’.
In a speech in east London, Mr McFadden said he had told Stephen Timms, the disability minister who is leading a review into PIP, to ‘take this chance to advocate radical and powerful change’.
The Work and Pensions Secretary also delivered an implicit criticism of Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ previous attempt to save £5billion from the welfare bill.
‘I don’t believe that the best way to do reform is to pluck a figure out of the air and then retrofit a policy next to it,’ Mr McFadden added.