Number of people claiming key disability benefit hits record high

The number of people claiming Personal Independence Payments (Pip) in England and Wales has hit a record high, according to new government figures.

As of July, just over four million people were entitled to claim the benefit, compared to 3.83 million the previous year, an increase of 7%, data from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) showed.

Pip is designed to support people with the extra costs of being disabled or living with long-term physical or mental health conditions, and eligibility is not affected by a person’s income or savings.

In July, Sir Stephen Timms, who is leading a review on Pip, said in his interim report that the system was “not fit for purpose”.

Of the 4.1 million claimants, those aged 50 and above accounted for more than half.

Just under three in ten were aged 30 to 49, while 17% of claimants were aged 16 to 29.

Pip seeks to offset the extra costs that can occur for those living with certain long-term health conditions.

According to the charity Scope, the extra cost of being disabled – known as the disability price tag – has reached more than £1,100 a month.

The DWP said the increase in the Pip caseload had actually “slowed”, falling from a rise of 400,000 in the 12 months to July 2024, to 260,000 in the 12 months to July 2026.

But they agreed the system was “no longer fit for purpose”, adding that the Timms review’s recommendations would “lay the foundation for sustainable reform”.

But Helen Whatly, shadow work and pensions secretary, said Labour was “too quick to write people off and too slow to help them into work” – adding that it was “costing us a fortune”.

Pip has been in the spotlight since the summer of 2025 when the government, led by former prime minister Sir Keir Starmer, proposed reforming and tightening eligibility criteria for the benefit as the cost of running the system increased.

Spending on Pip stood at £16.3bn in 2019-20, when adjusted for inflation to today’s prices, and had increased to £27.3bn by 2024-25, government figures showed.

It is currently forecast to rise to £41.5bn by 2030-31.