According to Birmingham Live<\/a><\/em>, committee member Rushanara Ali questioned DWP director Neil Couling about the department’s handling of disability benefit applications<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIn 2025-26, the Department processed 82.2% of new PIP claims in a timely manner,\u201d Ali said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThat is up from 62.4% in 2024-25. That looks very positive and encouraging, but the downside is that you have increased the measure of timeliness in processing a new claim from 75 to 120 days.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n She challenged the justification for changing the benchmark.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cCan you talk us through why you think that shift in goalposts, where the processing of a disability benefit will take six months, is acceptable?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAs you will appreciate, it would be pretty bad if we had to wait six months for something quite straightforward, but this is for disability benefit.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n The revised standard means the department now measures timely processing against a 120-day threshold, rather than the previous 75-day benchmark. The figures therefore reflect different performance measures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Couling acknowledged responsibility for introducing the revised target, arguing that the previous system encouraged misleading performance results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou are looking at the guilty man. I made this change,\u201d he told Ali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhen I came in to start my job in April 2025, I looked across and there were not standards for producing timely benefit awards. The PIP one was nonsense.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n He argued that the earlier approach allowed officials to concentrate on meeting targets without addressing every outstanding application.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBasically, I could have played that target\u2014I know how to play targets as well as set them. I could have done 75% of the cases and left the others, and I would have hit that target and you would all be saying, \u2018Well done. You\u2019re hitting that target.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Couling said he instead introduced a 90% performance target across several major benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSo I set a 90% target across all the major benefits in my area. Carer\u2019s allowance, attendance allowance, DLA and child benefit all got 90% targets. That is because you cannot game a 90% target.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n He rejected the suggestion that the department had simply relaxed its standards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI am an old operator here, so I know how to sort these systems out. It was not about moving the goalposts; it was about having goalposts that worked.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Couling also defended the longer processing window by pointing to the difficulties involved in arranging assessments for vulnerable applicants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cLet me explain why that is the period of time. The process involves assessment,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe Committee has rightly\u2014I applaud it for this\u2014talked about the importance of handling vulnerable people carefully, and with sensitivity and humanity, in this process.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n He added that missed appointments frequently complicate the process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFifty per cent of assessments are not turned up at\u2014people fail to attend, often for good reasons.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to Couling, rushing assessments previously created pressure to close applications prematurely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe allow lots of \u2018failed to attend\u2019 circumstances in the process, because of this vulnerability.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n He explained that much of the processing period is spent arranging assessments without forcing claimants into deadlines that could disadvantage them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Couling said previous performance pressures had led staff to close some claims inappropriately.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThat is why we have allowed that period of time.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The DWP has defended its new 120-day PIP processing benchmark after MPs questioned whether improved figures conceal longer waiting periods.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":108299,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-128567","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-33","no-featured-image-padding"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128567","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=128567"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128567\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":128569,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128567\/revisions\/128569"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/108299"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=128567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=128567"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=128567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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![\"DWP\"](\"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2025\/09\/DWP-3-1200x727.jpg\")
DWP Director Admits He Personally Changed the Rules<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Why the DWP Says PIP Claims Need More Time<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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