PIP Contact Numbers: New Claims and Enquiry Lines

The Short Answer

The PIP contact number depends on your situation: 0800 917 2222 starts a new claim, and 0800 121 4433 handles existing claims. The new claims line opens Monday to Friday, 8am to 5pm; the enquiry line opens 9am to 5pm. Both are free to call. Relay UK, British Sign Language and postal routes exist alongside the phones. Every line and what it handles is tabled below.

Contacting DWP in Detail

Two phone lines cover almost every PIP conversation, and ringing the right one saves a transfer queue. The new claims line only starts claims; everything after that, payments, changes, letters and complaints, belongs to the enquiry line. The first call and what to have ready are walked through in How to Claim PIP. The complete list:

Last checked: 7 August 2026

A British Sign Language video relay service is available for both lines through gov.uk if you are on a computer. Calls from UK phones to the 0800 numbers cost nothing; the international number charges at your provider's rate.

Preparation shortens every call. For a new claim, gather your National Insurance number, bank details, your GP or specialist's contact details, and dates of any hospital or care home stays. For the enquiry line, your National Insurance number and your most recent letter cover most questions.

The lines divide by claim stage, not by topic, which catches people out in both directions. A question about the claim you are only thinking of starting still belongs to the new claims line, because no record exists yet for the enquiry line to open. A question about the form, the assessment or anything else inside a claim already started belongs to the enquiry line, even though the claim feels new. The test is one question: does a claim exist yet.

The enquiry line is also the route when something looks wrong: a missing payment, an unexpected amount, or a back payment that has not arrived on the usual timescale. Asking when payment was issued and to which account resolves most cases in one call.

Scotland runs separate lines for Adult Disability Payment through Social Security Scotland, and Northern Ireland has its own PIP centre. The numbers above cover PIP claims administered by the DWP in England and Wales.

Which line for which situation

The two-line split answers most routing questions, and the remaining cases follow a simple rule: the enquiry line owns everything after a claim exists. Reporting a change of circumstances, chasing a payment, replacing a lost letter, updating bank details, asking about a review form and starting a mandatory reconsideration by phone all belong to 0800 121 4433. Only the very first contact of a new claim belongs to 0800 917 2222.

Three situations sit outside both lines. Appeals, once lodged, run through the tribunal service using the contact details on your appeal correspondence. Adult Disability Payment questions belong to Social Security Scotland. And advice about what to do, rather than information about your claim, belongs to Citizens Advice or a welfare rights adviser, who can also call the DWP with you.

Making the calls work

Call volumes make mornings after 8am and mid-week days the calmer windows, though no time is guaranteed quiet. Every call about an existing claim starts with security questions, so having your National Insurance number, date of birth and address ready removes the slowest step. Notes matter more than memory: the date, the adviser's first name and what was agreed turn a phone call into evidence if a dispute follows.

Where a call needs to become a record, follow it with the same request in writing to the address on your latest letter. For anything involving arrears, ring with a figure already in hand from the calculator, so the conversation compares numbers instead of impressions.

Accessibility routes in full

The phone-first system carries full alternatives for anyone who cannot use a standard voice line. Relay UK converts speech to text and back through the 18001 prefix on either number, from any textphone or the Relay UK app. The British Sign Language video relay service connects BSL users to both lines through an interpreter, joined from a computer via gov.uk. The postal route opens claims without any call. And someone else can speak on your behalf during a call you are present for, with formal appointee arrangements available where a claimant cannot manage their own claim at all.

Last checked: 7 August 2026

When a call goes wrong

Disputed calls have a paper remedy. If you are told something that contradicts a letter, or a promised action never happens, write to the address on your most recent correspondence stating the call date, what was said and what you need, and keep a copy. Persistent problems can become formal complaints through the DWP complaints procedure, which starts with the office handling your claim. For decisions themselves, no call is needed at all: the mandatory reconsideration route runs in writing from the date on your decision letter, and calling neither starts nor pauses that one-month clock.

The numbers on this page are re-verified against gov.uk on the date stamped above, and a changed number is treated as a priority correction. If a line here fails to connect as described, report it through the contact page and check gov.uk directly in the meantime: phone numbers are the one category of fact where a stale page does real harm the same day.

Numbers, hours, routes and preparation: contact is the simplest part of a PIP claim once they are all on one page, and this is the page.

Save both numbers before you need them.

Work Out Your Number

Before calling about arrears, two minutes with the estimate arms you with a figure. See how PIP back pay works and bring your own number to the conversation.