The Believability Gap.
Some conditions are awarded PIP 96.4% of the time. Others, 12.4%. The difference is not how disabling they are, it is how provable they are on assessment day.
Data: DWP quarterly PIP statistics, 16 June 2026 release. Coverage: April 2026. Retrieved 16 July 2026. Source: DWP Stat-Xplore (Open Data API).
Every condition, plotted.
Each dot is a DWP condition category. Horizontal axis: how many people currently claim (log scale). Vertical axis: headline award rate. Colour: how the condition presents at assessment.
Named extremes at the top: motor neurone disease (95.8%) and pancreatic cancer (96.4%). Bottom of the ladder: eczema (12.4%) and ADHD / ADD (24.1%).
All 165 conditions.
Default sort: hardest to win first. † marks conditions with fewer than 300 decisions in the last 12 months, where the headline rate falls back to the all-time figure.
| # | Condition | Award rate | Claimants | Trend | Group |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Eczema (dermatitis) | 12.4% | 1,519 | mixed | |
| 2 | Dyslexia | 16.8% | 4,490 | mixed | |
| 3 | Ulcerative colitis | 17.7% | 5,897 | objective | |
| 4 | Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) | 18.2% | 3,288 | invisible | |
| 5 | Sleep apnoea - obstructive | 18.7% | 3,900 | objective | |
| 6 | Migraine | 21.6% | 6,052 | invisible | |
| 7 | Crohns disease | 22.3% | 12,346 | objective | |
| 8 | Skin disease - Other / type not known | 22.6% | 2,399 | mixed | |
| 9 | Conductive hearing loss - Other causes of / type not known | 23.1% † | 2,292 | objective | |
| 10 | Ovary uterus cervix vagina and vulva - Other diseases of / type not known | 24.0% | 1,776 | mixed | |
| 11 | ADHD / ADD | 24.1% | 100,207 | invisible | |
| 12 | Hypothyroidism (myxoedema) | 24.5% | 2,169 | mixed | |
| 13 | Headache - Other causes of / cause not known | 25.0% | 1,882 | invisible | |
| 14 | Bladder urethra testes and penis - Other diseases of / type not known | 25.2% | 1,857 | mixed | |
| 15 | Small bowel - Other diseases of / type not known | 26.0% | 1,925 | mixed | |
| 16 | Diabetes mellitus Type 1 (insulin dependent) | 26.0% | 13,678 | objective | |
| 17 | Oesophagus stomach and duodenum - Other diseases of / type not known | 26.1% | 2,354 | mixed | |
| 18 | Psoriasis | 26.4% | 2,295 | mixed | |
| 19 | Menieres disease | 26.9% | 2,285 | mixed | |
| 20 | Raynaud's disease/phenomenon | 26.9% | 2,420 | mixed | |
| 21 | Diverticular disease / diverticulitis | 27.2% | 2,845 | mixed | |
| 22 | Dizziness - cause not specified | 28.1% | 2,164 | invisible | |
| 23 | Gastrointestinal tract - Other diseases of / type not known | 28.2% | 2,844 | mixed | |
| 24 | Gout | 29.2% | 2,808 | mixed | |
| 25 | Adhesive capsulitis (frozen shoulder) | 29.7% | 1,894 | mixed | |
| 26 | Endometriosis | 29.8% | 6,121 | invisible | |
| 27 | Disease affecting hearing & balance - Other/ type not known | 30.1% | 6,490 | mixed | |
| 28 | Shoulder disorders - Other / type not known | 31.1% | 7,273 | mixed | |
| 29 | Hernia | 32.2% | 2,123 | mixed | |
| 30 | Wrist and hand disorders - Other / type not known | 32.8% | 9,063 | mixed | |
| 31 | Upper limb - Injury/Fracture/Dislocation of | 33.0% | 6,486 | objective | |
| 32 | Asperger syndrome | 33.1% | 30,551 | invisible | |
| 33 | Rotator cuff disorder | 33.4% | 2,028 | mixed | |
| 34 | Diabetes mellitus (category unknown) | 33.7% | 14,052 | objective | |
| 35 | Diabetes mellitus Type 2 (non insulin dependent) | 34.5% | 16,335 | objective | |
| 36 | Ankle and foot disorders - Other / type not known | 34.8% | 14,144 | mixed | |
| 37 | Sensorineural hearing loss - Other causes of / type not known | 34.9% | 7,534 | objective | |
| 38 | Hypertension | 36.0% | 6,248 | mixed | |
| 39 | Asthma | 36.0% | 26,052 | mixed | |
| 40 | Tachycardia | 36.5% | 3,647 | mixed | |
| 41 | Glaucoma | 38.1% | 4,094 | objective | |
| 42 | Hypermobility syndrome | 38.1% | 8,017 | invisible | |
| 43 | Carpal tunnel syndrome | 38.1% | 8,466 | mixed | |
| 44 | Anxiety disorders - Other / type not known | 38.2% | 39,033 | invisible | |
| 45 | Autism | 38.4% | 227,526 | invisible | |
| 46 | Transient ischaemic attacks (TIAs) | 38.6% | 2,948 | objective | |
| 47 | Generalised anxiety disorder | 38.7% | 15,692 | invisible | |
| 48 | Heart disease - Congenital - Other / type not known | 38.8% | 4,044 | mixed | |
| 49 | Cardiovascular disease - Other / type not known | 39.3% | 10,528 | mixed | |
| 50 | Atrial fibrillation/flutter | 39.5% | 4,523 | mixed | |
| 51 | Deep vein thrombosis | 39.8% | 3,404 | mixed | |
| 52 | Mood disorders - Other / type not known | 40.1% | 5,704 | invisible | |
| 53 | Scoliosis | 40.1% | 13,418 | objective | |
| 54 | Vision - Other diseases affecting / type not known | 40.7% | 13,255 | mixed | |
| 55 | Hearing loss - mixed | 41.0% | 6,854 | mixed | |
| 56 | Cardiomyopathy | 41.2% | 4,469 | objective | |
| 57 | Myocardial infarction | 41.2% | 11,795 | objective | |
| 58 | Kidney disease - Other / type not known | 41.6% | 10,975 | mixed | |
| 59 | Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) | 41.8% | 12,343 | invisible | |
| 60 | Genetic disorders dysplasias and malformations - Other / type not known | 41.9% | 13,507 | mixed | |
| 61 | Knee disorders - Other / type not known | 42.1% | 21,343 | mixed | |
| 62 | Sarcoidosis | 42.6% | 2,734 | objective | |
| 63 | HIV/AIDs | 42.9% | 5,627 | objective | |
| 64 | Ischaemic heart disease - Other / type not known | 43.1% | 10,489 | objective | |
| 65 | Osteoarthritis of other single joint | 43.1% | 15,179 | objective | |
| 66 | Musculoskeletal disease - Regional / Localised - Other / type not known | 43.1% | 15,762 | mixed | |
| 67 | Movement disorders - Other / type not known | 43.3% | 4,943 | mixed | |
| 68 | Autoimmune disease - Other / type not known | 43.9% | 3,811 | mixed | |
| 69 | Angina | 44.0% | 8,846 | objective | |
| 70 | Neck disorders - Other / type not known | 44.2% | 6,231 | mixed | |
| 71 | Long COVID / post-COVID (DWP category: Coronavirus COVID-19) | 44.4% | 6,163 | invisible | |
| 72 | Peripheral nerve injury - Other / type not known | 44.4% | 5,067 | mixed | |
| 73 | specific learning disorder - other / type not known | 44.5% | 24,978 | mixed | |
| 74 | Phobia - Social | 44.8% | 3,453 | invisible | |
| 75 | Lower limb - Injuries/Fracture/Dislocation of | 44.8% | 16,283 | objective | |
| 76 | tumours - benign - Other / type not known | 45.0% | 6,946 | objective | |
| 77 | Panic disorder | 45.3% | 3,738 | invisible | |
| 78 | Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) | 46.0% | 8,365 | objective | |
| 79 | Pancreatitis - chronic | 46.6% | 2,550 | mixed | |
| 80 | Depressive disorder | 46.7% | 93,364 | invisible | |
| 81 | Inflammatory arthritis - Other / type not known | 46.7% | 71,829 | mixed | |
| 82 | Lower respiratory tract - Other diseases of / type not known | 47.2% | 4,048 | mixed | |
| 83 | Generalised musculoskeletal disease - Other / type not known | 47.3% | 16,229 | mixed | |
| 84 | Osteoporosis | 48.7% | 11,976 | objective | |
| 85 | Ehlers Danlos syndrome | 49.0% | 7,386 | invisible | |
| 86 | Anxiety and depressive disorders - mixed | 49.3% | 435,330 | invisible | |
| 87 | Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) | 49.3% | 33,555 | invisible | |
| 88 | Cerebrovascular disease - Other / type not known | 49.4% | 4,775 | mixed | |
| 89 | Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) chronic bronchitis/emphysema | 49.6% | 91,773 | objective | |
| 90 | Head injury - Cognitive impairment | 50.1% | 10,635 | objective | |
| 91 | Neurological disorders - Other / type not known | 50.2% | 33,283 | mixed | |
| 92 | Back pain - Non specific (mechanical) | 50.4% | 52,374 | invisible | |
| 93 | Multiple sclerosis | 50.6% | 57,599 | objective | |
| 94 | Cervical spondylosis | 50.6% | 9,595 | mixed | |
| 95 | Pain syndromes - Chronic - Other / type not known | 50.9% | 17,281 | invisible | |
| 96 | Ankylosing spondylitis | 51.1% | 13,583 | objective | |
| 97 | Lymphoedema | 51.2% | 6,447 | mixed | |
| 98 | Liver failure - Features of - Other / features not known | 51.3% | 2,273 | mixed | |
| 99 | Neuropathies - Other / type not known including peripheral | 51.4% | 25,081 | mixed | |
| 100 | Cervical disc lesion | 51.8% | 3,158 | mixed | |
| 101 | Arthritis - Psoriatic | 52.3% | 18,380 | mixed | |
| 102 | Learning disability - Other / type not known | 52.5% | 149,464 | objective | |
| 103 | Bipolar affective disorder (Hypomania / Mania) | 52.7% | 57,088 | invisible | |
| 104 | Deafness - congenital | 52.8% | 15,854 | objective | |
| 105 | Primary generalised Osteoarthritis | 53.5% | 218,067 | objective | |
| 106 | Post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) | 53.6% | 66,816 | invisible | |
| 107 | Hip disorders - Other / type not known | 53.9% | 17,428 | mixed | |
| 108 | Fibromyalgia | 54.0% | 179,051 | invisible | |
| 109 | Osteoarthritis of Knee | 54.1% | 47,980 | objective | |
| 110 | Rheumatoid arthritis | 54.1% | 85,085 | objective | |
| 111 | Head injury - Cognitive and sensorimotor impairment | 54.2% | 12,468 | objective | |
| 112 | Cardiac failure | 55.1% | 16,660 | mixed | |
| 113 | Cognitive disorders - Other / type not known | 55.2% | 7,813 | mixed | |
| 114 | Back pain - Specific - Other / type not known | 55.3% | 116,405 | invisible | |
| 115 | Cirrhosis - Other / type not known | 55.4% | 2,891 | objective | |
| 116 | Multiple - Injuries/Fracture/Dislocation | 56.5% | 9,815 | objective | |
| 117 | Renal failure - chronic | 56.5% | 6,114 | objective | |
| 118 | Personality disorder | 56.9% | 58,338 | invisible | |
| 119 | Prostate - cancer of | 58.7% | 7,155 | objective | |
| 120 | Spine - Injuries/Fracture/Dislocation of | 59.5% | 19,722 | objective | |
| 121 | Fracture complications - Other / type not known | 60.6% † | 1,734 | objective | |
| 122 | Spondylolisthesis | 60.7% | 7,485 | objective | |
| 123 | Cerebrovascular accident (stroke) | 61.4% | 82,805 | objective | |
| 124 | Lumbar disc lesion | 61.5% | 40,163 | mixed | |
| 125 | Lumbar spondylosis (OA spine) | 61.6% | 23,732 | mixed | |
| 126 | Parkinson's disease | 63.3% | 16,577 | objective | |
| 127 | Psychotic disorders - Other / type not known | 63.8% | 34,846 | invisible | |
| 128 | Schizoaffective disorder | 64.9% | 14,017 | invisible | |
| 129 | Spinal cord compression - Other causes of / cause not known | 65.2% | 7,375 | objective | |
| 130 | Agoraphobia | 65.3% | 7,167 | invisible | |
| 131 | Anorexia nervosa | 65.4% | 5,231 | invisible | |
| 132 | Cirrhosis - Alcohol induced | 65.6% | 1,427 | objective | |
| 133 | Seizures - unclassified | 65.7% | 51,541 | mixed | |
| 134 | Osteoarthritis of Hip | 66.1% | 22,008 | objective | |
| 135 | Schizophrenia | 66.4% | 83,048 | invisible | |
| 136 | Drug misuse | 66.4% | 4,825 | invisible | |
| 137 | Generalised seizures (without status epilepticus in last 12 months) | 67.6% | 7,104 | mixed | |
| 138 | Bladder - cancer of | 67.8% | 2,268 | objective | |
| 139 | Spinal stenosis | 68.3% | 20,779 | objective | |
| 140 | Alcohol misuse | 69.8% | 13,313 | invisible | |
| 141 | Obesity | 70.4% | 4,688 | mixed | |
| 142 | Cancers - Other / type not known | 71.4% | 9,432 | objective | |
| 143 | Endometrium (uterus / womb) - cancer of | 71.5% | 1,641 | objective | |
| 144 | Kidney - cancer of | 74.4% | 3,119 | objective | |
| 145 | Non hodgkins lymphoma | 74.4% | 4,728 | objective | |
| 146 | Breast - cancer of | 75.0% | 30,622 | objective | |
| 147 | Generalised seizures (with status epilepticus in last 12 months) | 75.3% | 9,864 | mixed | |
| 148 | Amputation - Lower limb(s) | 75.3% | 14,112 | objective | |
| 149 | Melanoma | 76.4% | 2,026 | mixed | |
| 150 | Hodgkins lymphoma | 77.5% | 2,452 | objective | |
| 151 | Mouth/tongue - cancer of | 78.2% | 2,338 | objective | |
| 152 | Cervix - cancer of | 80.6% | 1,829 | objective | |
| 153 | Bowel cancer | 81.9% | 12,435 | objective | |
| 154 | Myeloma | 82.5% | 4,206 | objective | |
| 155 | Ovary - cancer of | 84.9% | 2,643 | objective | |
| 156 | Dementia | 85.2% | 14,755 | objective | |
| 157 | Gastrointestinal tract - Other cancers of / type not known | 89.1% | 2,377 | objective | |
| 158 | Stomach - cancer of | 89.9% | 900 | objective | |
| 159 | Brain and spinal cord - cancer of | 90.3% | 7,027 | objective | |
| 160 | Liver - cancer of | 90.9% | 1,380 | objective | |
| 161 | Primary cancer - site not known | 91.1% | 590 | objective | |
| 162 | Oesophagus - cancer of | 92.3% | 2,636 | objective | |
| 163 | Lung cancers - Other | 93.0% | 11,982 | objective | |
| 164 | Motor neurone disease | 95.8% | 2,390 | objective | |
| 165 | Pancreas - cancer of | 96.4% | 1,790 | objective |
The squeeze.
Across all conditions the new-claim award rate has fallen from 44.2% all-time to 39.6% in the last 12 months, a 4.6 percentage-point drop on 783,465 decisions. The squeeze is not evenly distributed. Below: the eight highest-volume conditions where the 12-month rate has fallen furthest below the all-time rate.
The form gap.
14.5% of decided new claims in the last 12 months, roughly 113,373 people, were disallowed before anyone assessed them. In most cases the form was not returned in time; these claims never even get a condition recorded, so they show up in the overall figure but nowhere in the per-condition breakdowns.
The gap is visible from the other side too. The rate for claims that reach assessment is 46.3%, compared with 39.6% for all new-claim decisions. Getting to assessment is a filter in itself.
The provability gradient.
Median all-time award rates by group: objective conditions (confirmed by tests or visible damage) 56.5%; mixed 41.3%; invisible (diagnosed by symptoms and clinical judgement) 47.9%.
The gradient is not a clean split between visible and invisible. Some fluctuating conditions that are test-confirmed also cluster low, for example Crohn's disease (0.0%) and ulcerative colitis (17.7%). The common factor is how the disability presents in a one-hour assessment on one day, not just the diagnosis method.
How we classified every condition (165 categories, our editorial grouping)
The categories and numbers are DWP's. The classification below is ours, not the department's.
What we did not find.
No gender gap at the aggregate award-rate level. Male new-claim award rate (all time): 44.2%. Female new-claim award rate (all time): 44.2%. The correlation between a condition's female share and its award rate across 165 categories is 0.13, which is weak.
Claims of a systemic gender penalty in PIP award rates are not supported at this level of the data. This does not rule out differences at the descriptor, appeals, or regional level, which this dataset cannot see. We publish this section deliberately: what the data does not show matters as much as what it does.
Seven years of growth.
Total PIP caseload rose from roughly 2.11 million (April 2019) to 4,010,119 (April 2026). Named risers stand out:
- Endometriosis: 8.5× increase since 2019 (716 → 6,121 claimants).
- Anxiety disorders - Other / type not known: 4.8× increase since 2019 (8,051 → 39,033 claimants).
Definitions. rateAllTime = Awarded ÷ (Awarded + Disallowed), new claims, all months since 2013, withdrawn excluded. rate12m = the same, decisions made May 2025 to April 2026 only; null (marked †) where fewer than 300 decisions in the window. Claimants = cases with entitlement, April 2026.
Coverage. England and Wales (DWP policy ownership). Scotland has migrated to Adult Disability Payment.
Source. DWP Stat-Xplore (Open Data API). DWP quarterly PIP statistics, 16 June 2026 release. Retrieved 16 July 2026.
Licence. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
What this data cannot say. Award rate is not a measure of severity or deservingness. DWP records one primary condition per claim; many claimants have more than one. Per-condition waiting times and per-condition tribunal outcomes are not published, and we never imply them.
If a specific condition brought you here, the per-condition pages go deeper on the ten we have written up, and the assessment helps you map your day-to-day to the descriptors DWP scores. Not benefits advice.