Citizens Advice has called for an end to delays for people applying for Personal Independence Payments (PIP).
New Department of Work and Pensions statistics about PIP claims published show that the average waiting time for someone making a new PIP claim is down to eleven weeks.
Since PIP was introduced in April 2013 Citizens Advice has helped people with over 320,000 issues relating to the benefit.
Gillian Guy, Chief Executive of Citizens Advice, said:
"Personal Independence Payment waiting times are falling slowly but surely. It's encouraging that average length of time it takes to claim PIP is coming down, but eleven weeks is a long time to go without financial support. It is important to recognise that some people are still facing much longer delays, so waiting times need to continue to decrease.
"Citizens Advice wants to see the end of long delays for people applying for PIP. Average waiting times need to be reduced to a period which is manageable for people who may be dealing with the fallout of a serious illness or accident."
Notes to editors