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Personal Independence Payment: Medical Examinations

Asked by Steve DarlingLiberal DemocratDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled Answered 10 June 2026UIN 6890

The question

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what governance arrangements are in place for oversight of the Transform Decision Making programme.

Answered by Sir Stephen Timms

We began testing a transformed decision making approach on 16 March 2026 in postcodes comprising around 1% of all national PIP assessment volume. On 1 June 2026 we expanded this to around 4% of all PIP assessment volume. This is an operational change, which aims to reset and re-balance the decision-making process to free up assessment provider capacity and improve decision quality.

The test forms part of the work of the Health Transformation Programme, which is a major government programme modernising the PIP service, and is therefore subject to programme governance.

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