Guidance

Personal Independence Payment data on Stat-Xplore: user guide

Published 22 August 2024

1. What is Stat-Xplore? 

Stat-Xplore is a free tabulation tool available at GOV.UK. Users can access DWP data via databases to create their own analysis.  

Statistical disclosure control is applied to Stat-Xplore tables to avoid the release of confidential data. Totals may not sum due to the disclosure control applied. For further information see Data Confidentiality.

2. Benefits of using the Personal Independence Payment (PIP) statistics on Stat-Xplore  

Benefits of using the PIP statistics on Stat-Xplore include: 

• it is free and accessible to all, with user guidance and virtual tour 

• it is a user-friendly interface and quick export of tables and graphs to Excel 

• the data are unrounded, so users can produce more accurate analysis 

• the open data API functionality allows users to dynamically create their own tables and data visualisations

PIP data is also publicly available via GOV.UK Personal Independence Payment statistics collection comprising: 

• Main report (quarterly bulletin with commentary on trends etc.) 

• ODS/Excel Tables 

• Background Quality and Methodology Report 

• Quality Assurance of Administrative Data report 

• Release strategy

3. PIP statistics breakdowns available 

Stat-Xplore allows users to create their own analysis across the following aspects of a PIP claim journey (each series is held in a separate dataset within the overall PIP stat-Xplore collection): 

• caseload (number of cases with entitlement to PIP at a point in time) 

• registrations 

• clearances 

• Award Review registrations 

• Award Review clearances to 2016 

• Award Review clearances from 2016

• Mandatory Reconsideration (MR) registrations 

• Mandatory Reconsideration (MR) clearances 

• DLA to PIP Reassessments 

• Child DLA to PIP Reassessments

Time characteristic

The statistics are broken down by month, from the introduction of PIP on 8 April 2013. Most of the available series are updated on a quarterly basis and contain data up to and including the last day in the quarter (31 January, 30 April, 31 July, 31 October). Data is released approximately 6 weeks after quarter end (publication dates in March, June, September and December).  

The only exceptions are the DLA to PIP Reassessments and Child DLA to PIP Reassessments series which are updated on an annual basis with monthly data up to and including 31 October and released in December. 

Measures: 

Two different measures are used within the PIP statistics on Stat-Xplore as follows: 

• Count: a count of the number of PIP claims within a dataset. This is specific to the dataset, for example Registrations data set shows a count of claims registered 

• Average financial award amount: This measure is available within the Cases with Entitlement and Clearances datasets. It is calculated as the mean of all individual financial awards. For the Cases with Entitlement dataset, this is equivalent to the mean amount for each claim. For the Clearances, DLA to PIP Reassessment and Child DLA to PIP Reassessment datasets, the mean is only calculated for clearances where an award is made – disallowed or withdrawn cases are excluded from all mean financial award calculations 

Characteristics

All PIP data series can be tabulated by:

• residential geographies (Great Britain, country, region, local authority and Westminster parliament constituency and wards) 

• month 

• gender 

• reassessment indicator 

• end of life rules indicator 

In addition, where relevant, a series may also include: 

• age (bands and single year)  

• State Pension Age indicator 

• disability  

• details of clearance, award, claim, outcome or reassessment

4. Stat-Xplore: how it works

1. Once you have logged in, please take the tour to learn about how to use the Stat-Xplore database. The tour can be accessed by selecting the three dots in the top right-hand corner of the page. Further useful guidance can be found by selecting the ‘?’ icon, also in the top right-hand corner.

A screenshot of the Stat-Xplore page

2. Select the Personal Independence Payment section and take the time to read the front page for important information on PIP. 

A screenshot of the Personal Independence Payment front page on Stat-Xplore

3. A single click on the database icon for a data series from the collection will show the front page for that dataset. Scrolling down will show details about the series including frequency, available measures and known issues.  

Example: A screenshot of the Cases with Entitlement front page on Stat-Xplore

4. A double click on the database icon for a data series will allow you to extract data either by: 

• creating your own tabulation (the “Fields” tab in the top left of the screen should be selected by default)  

• selecting one of a range of ready-made tables (click on the “Tables” tab in the top left of the screen)

Example: A screenshot of the Cases with Entitlement dataset

5. Alternatively, from the main navigation page you can single click on the database icon for a data series and then directly access the ready-made tables from the list in the middle column by double clicking on the table you require. 

Example: A screenshot of the Cases with Entitlement list of ready-made tables

5. Stat-Xplore: managing tables 

Each PIP data series on Stat-Xplore has a number of ready-made tables which give a selection of the statistics that users might commonly require.  

A ready-made table can be modified by clicking on the “Fields” tab in the top left of the screen and following the method described in section 6 of this guide. 

When a desired table has been selected or created, you can select the table (including titles, filters, footnotes etc. as required) by clicking and dragging and then copy and paste into another application. 

Alternatively you can download the table in a range of formats by using the “Download table” function (top right of screen). Select the required format from the drop down menu and press “Go” to download.

A screenshot of the Cases with Entitlement PIP1 table showing download function

6. Stat-Xplore: user-defined analysis 

When the user double-selects the database icon (as shown in section 5 of this guide), a page containing a variable list and an empty table is displayed. In some cases, a mandatory field may be automatically added (for example, the PIP Cases with Entitlement series has “Month” as the mandatory field and the “blank” table appears showing the latest available month as the table column). In others, there is no mandatory field and the table is completely empty.

A screenshot showing a blank PIP registrations table

You can construct your own table by choosing which fields you want to include. 

• The row and column define a one or two dimensional tabulation. More than one field can be added to either row or column if required, and if you change your mind about the position of a field you have selected you can click and drag to move it to a new position.  

• The wafer allows a third dimension to be added, so that the same two dimensional table is populated for multiple values of another field. These are accessed by clicking a drop down menu once the data has been retrieved. 

• One or more filters can be applied to create a tabulation of a subsection of the total population of records in the data series. 

Adding fields to a table

To add all values for a particular field

Click on the field name and drag sideways. A drop down menu will appear showing: 

• Column 
• Row 
• Wafer 

You can drop the selected field onto the required menu option.

For fields where there are multiple levels of detail available

Click on the small square icon to the right of the field name (containing the > symbol) and select the level of detail that you want to include in your table, and then click on the button (row, column or wafer) towards the top left of the screen.

To add specific categories of an individual field

Click on the triangle icon to the left of the field name, to drill down to the level of detail that is required, and tick the categories that are required in the tabulation. Then click on the button (row, column or wafer) towards the top left of the screen.

To add a filter to a table

Similar to the third option above, click on the triangle icon to the left of the field name, to drill down to the level of detail that is required, and tick the category that is required in the filter. Then click on the filter button towards the top left of the screen. Note that Stat-Xplore will only allow a single value of any field to be applied as a filter but will allow multiple filters using different fields. 

The default measure for all PIP user defined tables is the count although where the Average financial award amount measure is available (within the Cases with Entitlement and clearances datasets) this can be selected instead by clicking on the small triangle to the left of the “Measures” field, ticking the box for the required measure, and adding to the table as a row, column or wafer using the buttons towards the top left of the screen.

7. Scottish Devolution 

The Scotland Act 2016 gives Scottish Parliament powers over a number of social security benefits which had been administered to Scottish claimants by the Department for Work and Pensions. From 1 April 2020, PIP became one of the benefits to have executive competency transferred from the DWP to Social Security Scotland, the executive agency of Scottish Government which is responsible for delivering social security benefits for Scotland. From 1 September 2020, young people in Scotland can choose to remain on child DLA until the age of 18. From Autumn 2021, claimants who live in Scotland and receive Disability Living Allowance for children will have their benefit replaced by Child Disability Payment. For more information see Disability Living Allowance for children in Scotland. 

The Scottish Government is now replacing PIP with Adult Disability Payment (ADP), a new benefit launched in 2022. From 29 August 2022, all new claimants in Scotland have applied for ADP rather than PIP, following a gradual roll-out for selected Scottish Local Authorities beginning in March 2022. For existing PIP claimants who live in Scotland, Social Security Scotland began to move customers to ADP from Summer 2022. Prior to this, DWP administered PIP on Social Security Scotland’s behalf for all Scottish PIP claimants as part of the transitional period. It is expected that all claims will have moved to ADP by 2025. When an individual PIP claim transfers to ADP, DWP will continue to pay PIP until the transfer is complete. For more information see Moving from Personal Independence Payment to Adult Disability Payment 

While PIP Official Statistics will continue to be produced and published for all claims administered by DWP, since the new ADP benefit have started to replace PIP, counts for Scotland no longer represent a full caseload for people receiving financial support because of a disability or health condition.

To reflect these changes, PIP geography fields have a split to provide breakdowns based on policy ownership. Users of the statistics should make a selection based on these policy ownership lines. 

Retrieving “DWP Policy Ownership” will return claims administered by DWP in England, Wales and Abroad. Retrieving “Policy Devolved to Scotland” will return the residual claims in Scotland.

8. Worked examples 

Note that the following examples were created using data released in June 2024 (latest available quarter being April 2024). While the steps to follow remain unchanged, if attempting to reproduce these examples using data released at a later date, the tabulations may show different results due to data refresh.  

Example A: 

Tabulate the number of cases with entitlement in England & Wales as at April 2024, where the claim was a new claim (not a DLA Reassessment), with daily living and mobility award levels in the table columns and disability subgroup in the table rows.

Step A.1 – double click on the PIP Cases with Entitlement series as described in section 4 

Step A.2 - apply filter for cases in England & Wales by: 

1. clicking on the small triangle to the left of “Geography (residence based) – select policy ownership” 

2. clicking on the small triangle to the left of “National – Regional – LA – OAs” 

3. ticking the box for “DWP Policy Ownership” 

4. clicking the “filter” button 

A screenshot showing creation of DWP Policy Ownership filter

Step A.3 - apply second filter for new claim cases by: 

1. clicking on the small triangle to the left of “Re-assessment indicator” 

2. ticking the box for “New claim” 

3. clicking the “filter” button 

A screenshot showing creation of New Claim filter

Step A.4 – add Daily Living Award status to the table column by: 

1. clicking on “Daily Living Award status” and dragging to the side 

2. dropping into the “column” option in the dropdown menu that appears

A screenshot showing Daily Living Award status being added to column

Step A.5 – add Mobility Award status to the table column by: 

1. clicking on “Mobility Award status” and dragging to the side 

2. dropping into the “column” option in the dropdown menu that appears 

A screenshot showing Mobility Award status being added to column

Step A.6 – add “Disability subgroup” to the table row by: 

1. clicking on the small square containing the “>” symbol to the right of “Disability” 

2. clicking on the “Disability subgroup” row in the dropdown menu that appears 

3. clicking the “row” button

A screenshot showing Disability subgroup being added to row

Step A.7 – Retrieve data by: 

1. clicking on the “Retrieve Data” button 

A screenshot showing retrieval of data

Step A.8 – Download data by: 

1. clicking on the “Go” button in the top right corner of the screen. (If a different format is required, click on the dropdown menu immediately to the left of the “Go” button and select the required format.)

A screenshot showing download of data

Example B: 

Tabulate the number of clearances where an assessment has taken place in England & Wales over the last 12 months, with Clearance Type in the table columns and SREL in the table rows. 

Step B.1 – double click on the PIP Clearances series as described in section 4 

Step B.2 - apply filter for cases in England & Wales by:

1. clicking on the small triangle to the left of “Geography (residence based) – select policy ownership” 

2. clicking on the small triangle to the left of “National – Regional – LA – OAs” 

3. ticking the box for “DWP Policy Ownership” 

4. clicking the “filter” button 

A screenshot showing creation of DWP Policy Ownership filter

Step B.3 – select latest 12 months and add as a Wafer by:

1. clicking on the small triangle to the left of “Month” 

2. scrolling down to the desired months in the full list that appears 

3. selecting the desired range of months by ticking the first month, holding down the “shift” key, and ticking the last month 

4. clicking the “Wafer” button

A screenshot showing creation of Month Wafer

Step B.4 – select clearances where an award has taken place and add Clearance Type Detail to the table column by: 

1. clicking on the small triangle to the left of “Clearance Type Detail” 

2. expanding to a lower level of detail by clicking on the small triangle to the left of the “Disallowed” category 

3. selecting the two categories where an assessment has taken place – these are “Awarded” and “Disallowed post-referral to the AP due to failing assessment” 

4. clicking the “Column” button

A screenshot showing selected Clearance Type Details being added to column

Step B.5 – add End of Life Indicator to the table row by: 

1. clicking on “End of Life Indicator” and dragging to the side 

2. dropping into the “row” option in the dropdown menu that appears

A screenshot showing selected End of Life Indicator being added to row

Step B.6 – Retrieve data by: 

1. clicking on the “Retrieve Data” button

A screenshot showing retrieval of data

Step B.7 – View the total for all selected by: 

1. clicking on the drop down menu to the left of the Wafer label 

2. scrolling to the bottom of the list and selecting “Total”

A screenshot showing how to view different wafers

Step B.8 – Copy and paste to another application by: 

1. select the table by placing the mouse to the top left corner of the area required, clicking and dragging to the bottom right corner 

2. copying (for example, by pressing ctrl-C or by right clicking and selecting “Copy” from the dropdown menu) 

3. Paste into alternative application (Ctrl-V or right click then “Paste”)

A screenshot showing selection of data to copy to another application

9. Footnotes 

Footnotes are displayed on tables, giving detail about derivation, known issues, or other information that the user should take into account when making use of the statistics.

A screenshot showing example footnotes

10. Metadata

Metadata giving additional detail about fields, or data series, including definitions of categories, can be found by clicking the small circular icon containing the letter “i” to the right of the field in question, either in the list of fields in the “Fields” tab or in the table itself. The same icon next to the Dataset name at the top of the screen gives metadata about the series as a whole. 

A screenshot showing the location of metadata icons

11. Feedback

The PIP Statistics team are actively seeking feedback from users. 

Please email: cm.analysis.research@dwp.gov.uk if you have any comments on how you have found using Stat-Xplore or if there are further tabulations you would like to produce. 

ISBN: 978-1-78659-702-1