Medical conditions with the highest PIP approval rates

Many Britons with long-term health problems and disabilities seek additional money from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). It is estimated that around 30,000 claims for Personal Independence Payment (PIP) are approved monthly – double the number recorded in 2021.

The DWP pays up to £172 a week in PIP benefits to around three million people in England and Wales, while Scotland provides equivalent Adult Disability Pay to 300,000 people, according to the latest figures published in April 2023. Approximately one in three cases (36 per cent) ) received the highest award level.

The DWP’s decision to approve or decline benefits is based on how an illness affects a person’s daily life or mobility rather than a specific diagnosis. But some conditions are more likely to work than others, reports BirminghamLIve.

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What medical conditions are most likely to affect PIP?

Independent advisors on the Benefit and Work website recently analyzed data on PIP claims to see which medical conditions are most likely to be approved for those benefits. They found that several conditions were ‘highly likely’ to be awarded PIP benefits and these were:

• Creutzfeldt Jacob’s disease (CJD ) – 100 percent claim approved
• Down’s syndrome – 99.6 percent
• Motor neuron disease – 97.5 percent
• dementia – 94.1 percent

DWP’s own data shows that the majority of PIP plaintiffs suffer from psychiatric disorders. This broad categorization includes mixed anxiety and depressive disorders, autistic spectrum disorders, mood disorders, psychotic disorders, and learning disabilities. But PIP app approval varies widely within this group.

Claims by people with schizophrenia have the highest success rate of 69.7 percent and claims by people with bipolar affective disorder are subsequent with a success rate of 61.3 percent. The success rate of claims based on a post-traumatic stress disorder diagnosis is 58.2 percent.

There has been little success for anxiety-related problems. People with mixed anxiety/depressive disorders have a 49.6 percent probability of being given PIP, for generalized anxiety disorder 42.7 percent and for anxiety disorders (other/unknown type) only 38.8 percent.

Overall, the DWP says four in five PIP claims (82 percent) fall into one of the five “most common conditions of deactivation” categories:

1. Psychiatric disorders (approximately 1.2 million plaintiffs) – these include schizophrenia, dementia, anxiety, depressive disorders, OCD, agoraphobia, personality disorders, ADHD, autism, learning disabilities, eating disorders, and learning disorders such as dyslexia and dyspraxia
2. Common musculoskeletal diseases (656,000 plaintiffs) – these include arthritis, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome
3. Nervous disease (416,000 claimants) – this includes stroke, epilepsy, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, cerebral palsy, spina bifida, muscular dystrophy, motor neurone disease
4. Musculoskeletal disease area (389,000 plaintiffs) – this includes back pain, amputations, fractures/dislocations, and neck/wrist/knee/ankle/shoulder/hip problems
5. Respiratory disease (137,000 plaintiffs) – this includes asthma, cystic fibrosis, pneumonia, asbestosis, sleep apnea

How much is the PIP?

To get PIP you must have had a health condition or disability where you have difficulty with daily living or travel (or both) for three months, and expect these difficulties to continue for at least another nine months.

There are two different components to profit, with the amounts detailed below. PIP is worked out at a weekly rate and paid into the plaintiff’s account every four weeks. You can get it even if you are working, have savings, or most other benefits.

Components of everyday life

• Upgraded – £101.75 a week
• Standard – £68.10 a week

Mobility component

• Upgraded – £71 a week
• Standard – £26.90 a week

So, if the application is approved, the minimum will be £26.90 a week just to get the mobility element, and the maximum will be the increased fare of both components – a total of £172.75 a week or £691 in any four-week payment period. Find out more about claiming PIP on the GOV.UK website.