During the coronavirus pandemic, there has been an increase in new benefit claims and changes in the ways that claims, assessments and challenges are handled. You should not experience any delays in how the your claim or award is handled because the government has increased capacity and made better use of data sharing within and among government departments. The DWP has said that it will exercise greater ‘trust’ when seeking evidence and information related to a claim or award of benefits, but the DWP might review awards made on this basis at a later date. If you do experience delays, the information in this chapter is still relevant, and the pandemic should not in itself be used as an excuse for any delays you experience.