Coronavirus: Hundreds of thousands of benefit claimants facing delays as DWP staff diverted due to pandemic

Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Campaigners said the government’s decision to redeploy a large proportion of its frontline staff away from disability benefits in order to ramp up the efforts to handle the surge in universal credit claims was “no doubt” having a knock-on effect in delaying people’s applications. But others don’t.” Charities are also concerned that people who are trying to appeal decisions to reduce their sickness and disability benefits are facing longer than usual delays. “Now it is more crucial than ever that they do this, and we urge the DWP to urgently increase the use of these paper-based decisions to ensure disabled people are receiving the income they are entitled to.” Matthew Harrison, parliamentary co-chair of the Disability Benefits Consortium, said: “The shifting of staff away from disability benefits, such as PIP, is without doubt having a knock-on effect in delaying people’s applications. “This cannot be right and the government must tackle this backlog immediately to ensure that disabled people, who are being disproportionately impacted by Covid-19, have the financial support they need to get through this period.” The DWP announced on 16 March that claimants on disability benefits would no longer be required to attend face-to-face assessments in order to protect vulnerable people from unnecessary risk of exposure to coronavirus.