Research and analysis

Health Transformation Programme management information to January 2025

Published 18 March 2025

Applies to England

1. Main Stories

• The total number of referrals for a Personal Independent Payment (PIP) assessment was 13,103 in the London and Birmingham Health Transformation Area postcode groups from January 2023 to January 2025. The total number of referrals over the last 12 months (February 2024 to January 2025) was 7,384.

• The total number of referrals for a Universal Credit Work Capability Assessment was 8,162 in the London and Birmingham Health Transformation Area postcode groups from January 2023 to December 2024. The total number of referrals over the last 12 months (January 2024 to December 2024) was 3,950.

• The total number of referrals for an Employment and Support Allowance Work Capability Assessment was 798 in the London and Birmingham Health Transformation Area postcode groups from January 2023 to June 2024. The total number of referrals over the last 12 months (July 2023 to June 2024) was 610.

• The number of claimants registering a PIP claim via the digital self-serve GOV.UK channel was 46,523 and the number of self-serve PIP2 submissions was 38,393 from July 2023 to January 2025. Over the last 12 months (February 2024 to January 2025), the total number of digital self-serve registrations was 31,540 and digital self-serve PIP2 submissions was 26,344.

2. Background

The Health Transformation Programme (HTP) is modernising Health and Disability benefits over the longer-term. It is transforming the entire Personal Independence Payment (PIP) service, aiming to introduce a simpler application process, including an option to apply online, improved evidence gather and a more tailored journey for customers. An online claim option for PIP, known as ‘Apply for PIP’ digital self-serve, available directly via GOV.UK, was launched on 27 July 2023, initially for a limited number of claimants in certain user groups and selected postcode districts in England.

The HTP is also developing a new single Health Assessment Service (HAS) for all benefits that require a functional health assessment. This will include new IT and processes.

The HTP has been developing the new HAS at a small scale initially in the Health Transformation Area (HTA). There are currently two HTAs located in London and Birmingham. Within these HTAs, new benefit claims as well as reassessments and award reviews, including PIP assessments, Universal Credit (UC) Work Capability Assessments (WCA) and Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) WCA, are processed in-house for a select number of London and Birmingham postcodes.

This release has been published following the commitment made within the Health Transformation Programme Evaluation Strategy, published 25 May 2023, to begin publishing Management Information (MI) in Autumn 2023.

3. Statement of Application of the Code of Practice for Statistics

The Code of Practice for Statistics (the Code) is built around 3 main concepts, or pillars:

• trustworthiness – is about having confidence in the people and organisations that publish statistics
• quality – is about using data and methods that produce statistics
• value – is about publishing statistics that support society’s needs

The following explains how we have applied the pillars of the Code in a proportionate way.

3.1. Trustworthiness

This Management Information was created following a commitment in the Health Transformation Programme (HTP) Evaluation Strategy, published 25 May 2023. This is being published now to give equal access to all those with an interest in the information.

3.2. Quality

This publication uses internal management information used directly within the Health Transformation Programme and has not been quality assured to Official Statistics publication standards. However, engagement has taken place with data owners to ensure this data is fit-for-purpose and of sufficient quality for publication. Multiple rounds of quality assurance have been applied to ensure the data is as accurate and reliable as possible.

3.3. Value

Releasing this information serves the public interest by providing granularity of both the number of claimants being referred for a PIP assessment, UC WCA or ESA WCA in an in-house HTA, by benefit type and HTA postcode group and the number of claimants applying for PIP via the new digital self-serve channel on GOV.UK. Making this information accessible can reduce the administrative burden of answering Parliamentary Questions (PQs), Freedom of Information (FOI) requests and ad hoc queries about the Health Transformation Programme.

4. Health Transformation Area Management Information

Table 1 shows the number of referrals for PIP assessments, UC WCAs or ESA WCAs in the London and Birmingham HTAs.

Table 1: Number of referrals for an assessment in the Health Transformation Area (HTA), by benefit type and HTA postcode group

Date	All postcodes	PIP Birmingham	PIP London	UC Birmingham	UC London	ESA Birmingham	ESA London
Total	22,063	5,710	7,393	2,892	5,270	349	449
Jan 2023	674	[low][footnote 1]	357	124	146	27	19
Feb 2023	660	[low]	267	210	165	8	10
Mar 2023	692	[low]	305	109	253	14	8
Apr 2023	660	81	272	176	105	17	9
May 2023	720	92	243	197	150	25	13
Jun 2023	803	133	295	146	191	15	23
Jul 2023	985	292	224	179	261	9	20
Aug 2023	917	261	305	146	181	17	7
Sep 2023	861	271	262	129	152	9	38
Oct 2023	1,036	266	255	228	198	42	47
Nov 2023	947	224	227	139	281	30	46
Dec 2023	964	243	303	135	211	34	38
Jan 2024	984	270	267	139	235	34	39
Feb 2024	956	292	280	141	179	27	37
Mar 2024	1,138	256	306	277	252	26	21
Apr 2024	1,219	323	330	313	219	13	21
May 2024	846	284	276	26	234	[low]	24
Jun 2024	863	297	312	[low]	221	[low]	29
Jul 2024	740	258	280	[low]	198	[x][footnote 2]	[x]
Aug 2024	871	299	363	[low]	207	[x]	[x]
Sep 2024	835	310	303	[low]	219	[x]	[x]
Oct 2024	1,036	368[r]	340[r]	16	312	[x]	[x]
Nov 2024	1,127	346	369	27	385	[x]	[x]
Dec 2024	857	231	289	22	315	[x]	[x]
Jan 2025	672	309	363	[x]	[x]	[x]	[x]

Source: DWP Management Information on HTA referrals, correct as of 19 February 2025.

Figure 1: Number of referrals for an assessment in the Health Transformation Area (HTA), by benefit type and HTA postcode group

Source: DWP Management Information on HTA referrals, correct as of 19 February 2025.

Figure 1 shows a line chart illustrating the trends in the volumes of referrals for an assessment by benefit type and HTA postcode group from January 2023 to January 2025 (where applicable). An upward trend is seen for PIP referrals in Birmingham and London from January 2023 to January 2025, and a similar upward trend is seen in UC referrals in London from January 2023 to December 2024. A slight upward trend observed in ESA referrals in London from January 2023 to June 2024.

Supporting information for Table 1 and Figure 1:

• totals may not sum due to the disclosure control applied
• postcode districts covered by data in Table 1 are listed in Annex A
• number of referrals covered in Table 1 report new claims, award reviews and change of circumstances
• these figures may be subject to revision in subsequent releases
• figures marked [r] have been revised since the previous release
• in the December 2023 edition of this publication, Table 1 reported number of referrals for an assessment in the HTA by benefit type and site. Site has been updated to postcode group from the March 2024 edition as claims may be processed in a different HTA than their originating postcode. Postcode group will continue to be used in future editions
• referrals for PIP assessments went live in Birmingham postcode district B14 in April 2023. Referrals for PIP assessments in Birmingham postcode districts B17, B19, B78 went live in July 2023. However, a small number of referrals have been recorded for January to March 2023, and to avoid disclosure are suppressed in Table 1 and Figure 1
• from 3 May 2024, WCA work from the HTA Birmingham postcode group was permanently redirected to external assessment providers. This redirection allows the HTA to focus more on PIP end to end transformation and test and learn activities. Table 1 and Figure 1 continues to show small volumes of HTA WCA referrals from the Birmingham postcode group due to rebuilt referrals and good cause cases
• from 21 October 2024, a proportion of PIP work from the HTA Birmingham postcode group is being redirected to external assessment providers, and this is anticipated to continue until the end of March 2025. This redirection allows the HTA to focus more on PIP end to end transformation and test and learn activities
• an individual claimant may be counted in Table 1 more than once e.g., due to submitting multiple claims for different benefits, re-referrals during the same period or rebuilt referrals
• data is only provided for referrals to UC WCAs in an in-house HTA between January 2023 and December 2024. This is to align with the monthly UC WCA decision outcomes data included in the latest: Universal Credit Work Capability Assessment statistics, released on 13 March 2025. Figures not included to align to this publication’s time period are shown by ‘[x]’
• data is only provided for referrals to ESA WCAs in an in-house HTA between January 2023 and June 2024. This is to align with number of WCAs by claim start included in the latest ESA: outcomes of Work Capability Assessments including mandatory reconsiderations and appeals publication, released on 13 March 2025. Figures not included to align to this publication’s time period are shown by ‘[x]’

Table 1 shows that a higher number of PIP assessment referrals took place in the London HTA postcode group, with 7,393 referrals (56%) compared to the 5,710 referrals (44%) in the Birmingham HTA postcode group from January 2023 to January 2025. However, Birmingham postcodes did not go live with PIP assessment referrals until April 2023. The monthly average of PIP referrals from November 2024 to January 2025 was 340 in London and 295 in Birmingham.

From 3 May 2024, WCA work from the HTA Birmingham postcode group was permanently redirected to external assessment providers, allowing the HTA to concentrate on PIP end to end transformation and test and learn activities.

Table 1 continues to show small volumes of HTA WCA referrals from the Birmingham postcode group due to rebuilt referrals and good cause cases. Rebuilt referrals are cases where there have been changes in the claimant’s data, circumstances, or audits requiring review that are then manually rebuilt with the correct details. Although captured as a new referral to the HTA in the data post 3 May, these cases are being processed by external providers.

A higher number of UC WCA referrals also took place in the London HTA postcode group, with 5,270 referrals (65%) compared to the 2,892 UC WCA referrals (35%) that occurred in the Birmingham HTA postcode group between January 2023 and December 2024. Due to the permanent redirection of cases mentioned above, the number of referrals will be lower in Birmingham going forward. The monthly average of UC WCA referrals from October 2024 to December 2024 was 337 in London.

A higher number of ESA WCA referrals also took place in the London HTA postcode group, with 449 referrals (56%) compared to the 349 ESA WCA referrals (44%) that occurred in the Birmingham HTA postcode group between January 2023 and June 2024. Due to the permanent redirection of cases mentioned above, the number of referrals will be lower in Birmingham going forward. The monthly average of ESA WCA referrals from April 2024 to June 2024 was 25 in London.

5. Online PIP Applications Management Information

Table 2 shows the number of claimants applying for PIP via the new digital self-serve GOV.UK channel, which went live on 27 July 2023 for some claimants living in certain postcode districts. The service was expanded to those living in a small number of additional postcode districts on 14 December 2023.

When registering a claim (via a PIP1 form), claimants provide personal information and contact details. A claimant subsequently provides information about how their disability or health condition impacts them (via a PIP2 form). Not all claimants who register a claim will go on to return the PIP2 form. Claimants who do register a claim may wait before submitting a PIP2 form, hence their PIP2 form could be submitted after the January 2025 cut-off date for this publication. As a result, PIP2 form submissions are expected to be lower than registrations.

Table 2: Number of claimants applying for PIP via the new digital self-serve GOV.UK channel

Online PIP applications

Date	Registrations (PIP1)	PIP2 form submissions
Total	46,523	38,393
Jul 2023	313	199
Aug 2023	2,111	1,548
Sep 2023	2,561	2,072
Oct 2023	2,548	2,080
Nov 2023	2,466	2,128
Dec 2023	1,905	1,573
Jan 2024	3,079	2,449[r]
Feb 2024	2,964	2,388
Mar 2024	2,979	2,532
Apr 2024	3,252	2,696
May 2024	2,587	2,216
Jun 2024	2,455	1,880
Jul 2024	2,690	2,311
Aug 2024	2,475	1,951
Sep 2024	2,704[r]	2,260[r]
Oct 2024	2,584[r]	2,231[r]
Nov 2024	2,254	1,968
Dec 2024	1,682	1,482
Jan 2025	2,914	2,429

Source: DWP Management Information on claimants applying for PIP via the new digital self-serve channel on GOV.UK, correct as of 10 February 2025.

Figure 2: Number of claimants applying for PIP via the new digital self-serve GOV.UK channel

Source: DWP Management Information on claimants applying for PIP via the new digital self-serve channel on GOV.UK, correct as of 10 February 2025.

Figure 2 shows a line chart illustrating the trends in the number of claimants applying for PIP via the new digital self-serve channel on GOV.UK from January 2023 to January 2025. An upward trend is seen for registration (PIP1) volumes and PIP2 form submission volumes over the January 2023 to January 2025 period, with volumes peaking in April 2024.

Supporting information for Table 2 and Figure 2:

• the online ‘Apply for PIP’ digital self-serve GOV.UK channel first went live on 27 July 2023. From 14 December 2023, the service was extended to cover the HTA postcode districts listed in Annex A
• the online service was unavailable from 28 November 2024 to 3 December 2024 During this period, no data was processed, and self-serve registrations (PIP1) and PIP2 form submissions were suspended, which may have slightly impacted the November 2024 and December 2024 monthly volumes.Additionally, the month of December typically experiences a seasonal drop in registrations (PIP1) and PIP2 form submissions, which would have likely also contributed to the lower volumes during December 2024
• all postcode districts currently covered by data in Table 2 are listed in Annex B
• registrations (PIP1) and PIP2 submission volumes do not necessarily represent the same cohort of claimants in a particular month
• these figures may be subject to revision in subsequent releases

6. About these statistics

The Health Transformation Programme (HTP) Evaluation Strategy was published on 25 May 2023, providing an overview of plans to evaluate the HTP. The core principles of the evaluation strategy are to:

• establish a robust and detailed evidence base to inform decisions about service improvements and how the HTP can drive better customer experience
• provide person-centred insight on what works for whom to ensure a broad range of needs are considered when transforming our services
• provide assurance that the business case has been met.

This MI is an important part of the Programme’s plans to evaluate the services being developed, providing quantitative data for the HTAs and online ‘Apply for PIP’ digital GOV.UK channel. This publication is part of an ongoing quarterly series of HTP MI. The contents will remain under review and will be further developed when appropriate to do so.

The next edition of Health Transformation Programme Management Information will be published on 17 June 2025.

7. Related Statistics

This MI has been published on 18 March 2025 to align with the publication date of the Personal Independence Payment: Accredited Official Statistics. This series will continue to be published on the same release cycle as the Personal Independence Payment: Accredited Official Statistics.

Personal Independence Payment (PIP) statistics

This quarterly publication brings together statistics on:

• PIP new claims and Disability Living Allowance (DLA) claim reassessments, covering the PIP customer journey from registration through to decision, ongoing entitlement, award review, mandatory reconsideration (MR) and appeal
• volumes of claimants entitled to PIP at a point in time (caseload), registrations and clearances for different stages of the journey (initiation of claims, award reviews and MRs), outcomes at clearance and median clearance times
• customer journey statistics tracking initial decisions and award review outcomes following a PIP assessment

Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) Work Capability Assessment statistics

This quarterly publication brings together statistics on:

• ESA Work Capability Assessment outcomes
• appeals decisions and mandatory reconsiderations for ESA claims (including re-assessed Incapacity Benefit claims)
• monthly median ESA Work Capability Assessment mandatory reconsideration clearance times
• ESA WCA cohort statistics covering the ESA Work Capability Assessment process
• ESA Work Capability Assessment clearance times for initial claims

Universal Credit Work Capability Assessment statistics

This publication brings together statistics on:

• the number of claimants on Universal Credit (UC) with a health condition or disability restricting their ability to work
• monthly DWP Universal Credit Work Capability Assessment (UC WCA) decisions and outcomes
• medical conditions for claimants undertaking a WCA

As well as being available within the statistical summary publications, most data from these related statistics is also released through Stat-Xplore.

8. Further information and feedback

Lead analyst: Shaun Butcher

Analysts: Sara Buultjens, Ahsan Hussain and Rebecca McCaw

Contact DWP Press Office if you have any questions or feedback.

9. Annex A

Postcode districts covered by in-house HTAs, from Table 1.

HTA Postcode Districts

HTA	Postcode districts
London	E5, N2, N3, N4, N6
Birmingham	B14, B17, B19, B78

10. Annex B

Postcode districts where the Apply for PIP digital self-serve GOV.UK channel is currently available, from Table 2.

Apply for PIP Postcode Districts

Postcode starting letter	Postcode district
B	B14, B16, B17, B18, B19, B21, B42, B66, B67, B68, B69, B70, B71, B78
BD	BD4, BD11, BD12
BH	BH1, BH2, BH3, BH4, BH5, BH6, BH7, BH8, BH9, BH10, BH11, BH12, BH13, BH14, BH15, BH16, BH17, BH18, BH22
BN	BN20, BN22, BN23
CB	CB11
CM	CM17, CM24
CW	CW12
DE	DE21, DE7, DE72, DE75
DY	DY11, DY13
E	E5, E7, E11, E12
GL	GL1, GL5, GL10
HD	HD1, HD4
HP	HP23
HR	HR7, HR8
IG	IG1, IG2, IG3, IG4, IG5, IG6, IG7, IG8, IG9
IP	IP3, IP4, IP5, IP6, IP10, IP11, IP12, IP13, IP15, IP16, IP17, IP18, IP19, IP20
KT	KT6, KT7, KT8, KT9, KT10, KT12
L	L9, L10, L21, L22, L23, L29, L30, L38
LE	LE13
LN	LN9, LN10, LN11, LN12, LN13
LU	LU1, LU2, LU3, LU4, LU7
M	M15, M16, M23, M31, M32, M33, M41
N	N2, N3, N4, N6
NE	NE1, NE2, NE4, NE5, NE98
NG	NG10, NG15, NG17
NR	NR31, NR32, NR33, NR34, NR35
PE	PE21, PE23, PE24, PE25, PE34
RG	RG14, RG20, RG21, RG22, RG23, RG24
RH	RH7, RH8
RM	RM10
SG	SG7
SK	SK11
SO	SO24
ST	ST13
TN	TN8
TW	TW16, TW17
WA	WA14, WA15
WF	WF13, WF15, WF16, WF17
WR	WR2, WR5, WR6, WR13, WR14
WS	WS6
YO	YO11, YO12, YO13, YO14, YO22, YO25

11. Annex C: Glossary of terms

Term	Definitions
Apply for PIP	The term used for the new digital service providing options to claim online. This includes the option to complete the PIP2 health information gather online after calling to begin the claim and the wholly online Digital Self-Serve route via GOV.UK.
Digital Self-Serve	Claims are made wholly via GOV.UK (PIP1 and PIP2 submitted digitally, via the website). This is only available in a limited number of postcodes listed in Annex B.
Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)	A benefit for individuals who have a disability or health condition that affects how much they can work. ESA gives an individual money to help with living costs if they are unable to work and/or support to get back into work if they are able to.
Health Transformation Area (HTA)	The Health Transformation Area is an in-house service to process claims and undertake associated assessments for claimants that live in the geographical postcodes of the HTA – see Annex A.
Health Transformation Programme (HTP)	A Programme which is transforming Health and Disability benefit services over the longer term, developing a customer-focused integrated Health Assessment Service (HAS) for people with disabilities and health conditions claiming a benefit that uses functional health assessments. It is also transforming the entire PIP service, including introducing an option to apply online.
Personal Independence Payment (PIP)	A benefit administered by DWP to help towards the extra costs caused by long-term disability, ill-health or terminal ill-health.
PIP1 Submission	A form completed, usually by telephone or online, to capture personal information and contact details of the claimant registering a PIP claim.
PIP2 Submission	A form for claimants to complete, usually on paper or online, on how their disability affects them, upon registration to PIP or when a change of circumstances occurs.
Registration	Claimant makes an application to claim PIP.
Rebuilt Referral	Cases where there have been changes in a claimant’s data, circumstances or audits requiring review that are then manually rebuilt with the correct details.
Universal Credit (UC)	A benefit for people over 18 (with some exceptions for those aged 16 or 17) but under State Pension age who are either: In work but on a low income, or Out of work.
Work Capability Assessment (WCA)	An assessment to decide how much an individual’s illness or disability limits their capability to work. When an individual applies for Universal Credit (UC) they can report if they have a health condition or disability that affects their capability to work.

1. Figures under 5 are supressed to avoid disclosure shown by ‘[low]’. ↩

2. Figures not included which are shown by ‘[x]’ to align with the time periods used in Official Statistics publications listed in the Related Statistics section. ↩