Pip claimants in England and Wales hits new high of nearly four million

The number of people in England and Wales claiming the main disability benefit has hit a new record high of nearly four million, figures show.

Personal independence payments (Pip) are intended to help with everyday tasks and extra living costs if someone has a long-term physical or mental health condition or disability.

Plans by the Government to change the eligibility criteria for the payments had to be put on hold last year, after a rebellion by MPs in the House of Commons.

Work and pensions minister Sir Stephen Timms instead launched a review into Pip, which is expected to report this autumn.

Some 3.93 million people in England and Wales were claiming personal independence payments in January 2026, according to data published on Tuesday by the Department for Work & Pensions (DWP).

This is up by 233,080, or 6%, from 3.69 million a year earlier.

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.

Teenagers and young adults account for a growing proportion of those getting Pip.

Some 16.6% of claimants in January this year were aged 16-29, up from 14.6% in January 2019.

There has been a similar rise for the 30-44 age group, which accounted for 21.0% in January this year, up from 19.0% in 2019.

By contrast, 45-59 year-olds made up 29.2% of claimants in January, down from 37.4% in 2019.

The figure for 60-74 year-olds has risen slightly over this period, from 29.0% to 31.0%.

Any changes to the eligibility criteria for Pip have been postponed until after the Timms review takes place, ministers have promised.

The Government said the review aims to ensure Pip is “fair and fit for the future”.

It has announced a steering group of 12 experts with lived experience of disability, long-term health conditions or direct experience of working within disabled people’s organisations.

They will work alongside Sir Stephen and two other co-chairs of the review, Sharon Brennan and Dr Clenton Farquharson, both of whom have lived experience of disability.

Some 36.6% of new Pip claims in January 2026 were granted, while 60.8% were disallowed and 2.6% were withdrawn, the DWP data shows.

The grant rate for new claims has been on a broad downward trend for the past two years, having been 43.2% in January 2025 and 46.7% in January 2024.

Separate DWP figures published on Tuesday show there were a record 8.41 million people in Britain claiming universal credit (UC) in February 2026.

This is up from 7.52 million in February 2025.

About three-quarters of the increase over the past year is because of people moving on to UC from other benefits, rather than new claims.

Universal credit is a payment to help with living costs and is available for people in work who are on low incomes, and those who are out of work or cannot work.

The process of transferring people to universal credit from older “legacy” benefits, such as income support and jobseekers’ allowance, began on a small scale in May 2022 and was stepped up in April 2023.

The Government has said the roll-out of UC across Britain should be completed this year, with any claimants still on legacy benefits to be moved to UC by March.