There are 3 stages to claiming PIP:
- Contact the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and fill in the PIP1 form – they can do this for you over the phone
- Fill in the ‘How your disability affects you’ form – you can choose to get a paper form by post or get an email with a link to an online form
- Go to a medical assessment
It can take up to 6 months from when you first contact the DWP to when you get your first payment. If the DWP decide you can get PIP, they’ll pay you the money you should have got from the date you started your claim. You can’t backdate PIP – this means you won’t get any money for time before you made your claim.
- your full name, address and phone number
- your National Insurance number
- your bank or building society account details
- contact details of your GP or other health professionals you deal with
- the dates and details of any stays in hospital or residential care
- your nationality or immigration status
- if you’ve been abroad for more than 4 weeks at a time in the last 3 years (you’ll need the dates and details)
Personal Independence Payment claim line Telephone: 0800 917 2222 Textphone: 0800 917 7777 Relay UK – if you can’t hear or speak on the phone, you can type what you want to say: 18001 then 0800 917 2222 You can use Relay UK with an app or a textphone.
There’s no extra charge to use it. Find out how to use Relay UK on the Relay UK website. Video relay – if you use British Sign Language (BSL). You can find out how to use video relay on YouTube. Calling from abroad: +44 191 218 7766 Monday to Friday, 8am to 5pm Calls are free from mobiles and landlines.
It should take about 20 minutes to complete the call. If you’d prefer someone else to call for you that’s fine, but you need to be with them so you can give permission for them to speak for you. The DWP will ask if you want them to send you the ‘How your disability affects you’ form by post or by email.
Can a PIP be backdated?
When do Personal Independence Payment (PIP) payments start? – Your Personal Independence Payment (PIP) will start being paid after you receive your decision letter. Your decision letter tells you whether you qualify for PIP and how much you will get. Your PIP will be backdated to when you first made a PIP claim, so you are likely to get a lump sum back payment.
Can PIP be backdated after review?
Getting your mandatory reconsideration result – The DWP doesn’t have to make the decision within a specific timescale and sometimes it can take several months to get your decision letter – this letter is called a ‘mandatory reconsideration notice’. You’ll be sent 2 copies – you’ll need to send 1 off if you need to go to the next stage of appeal.
- If the DWP change their decision, you’ll start getting your PIP payment straight away.
- Your payment for PIP be backdated.
- If the decision was about a new claim, they’ll backdate your PIP to the date you made the claim.
- If the decision was about an ongoing claim, they’ll backdate your PIP to the date it was stopped or reduced.
Don’t be put off if they don’t change the decision, not many decisions are overturned at this stage. More decisions are changed after the second stage of the challenge – if your mandatory reconsideration is turned down you can appeal to a tribunal,
Is there a time limit on PIP?
How long you get PIP for – The DWP will give you PIP with no end date if either:
they think your condition will never get better
you’ve reached State Pension age – you can check your State Pension age on GOV.UK
This is called an ‘indefinite award’. If you have an indefinite award the DWP will usually review it every 10 years. If you don’t get an indefinite award, you’ll get PIP for a fixed amount of time – your decision letter will tell you for how long. If you’re terminally ill the award will be for 3 years.
you were awarded PIP for 2 years or less you challenged the DWP’s decision and a tribunal awarded you PIP or increased how much you get
How long is PIP awarded after a review?
Award ends – If you qualify for Personal Independence Payment (PIP), you usually get an award for a fixed amount of time:
One year (if your condition is likely to change) Two years Three years Five years Ten years
How long your award is depends on how likely it is that your needs will change over time. You will be contacted in the last year of your award to renew your claim.
What is the 50 rule PIP?
Group File 35 (CPIP/0626./2015) PIP 50% rule. – This is a reminder from BuDS’ Benefit Information Team about an aspect of PIP rules which some people may not know, or have forgotten. It particularly mentions a little-known concession or agreement by DWP which could make it easier for more people to claim PIP.
- Under PIP, if a condition or disability affects you more than half the time, it has to be treated as affecting you all the time.
- Equally, if a condition or disability does not affect you half the time, then it can be disregarded or ignored for PIP purposes.
- This is known as the 50% rule.
- The next question is, did your condition or disability affect you so that you met a PIP descriptor test more than half the time over that full year? In working this out, you should look at the condition over the most appropriate period.
Imagine you have a condition that means you meet a PIP descriptor test some days, but not on others. What you would do then is count the number of days where the descriptor test was passed, and see if they add up to more than 183 = half a year. If you had a condition which means you meet a PIP descriptor test some weeks, but not on others, then you would count the weeks in the same way.
- What happens, however, when you have a condition which affects you differently hour by hour over the day, maybe a bit differently every day? Counting the hours over the whole year and seeing if they add up to 4381 (hours in six months) isn’t practical.
- This issue came up before the Upper Tribunal in 2015 in case CPIP/0626./2015.
This case is not widely available online. However, during the UT hearing, the Secretary of State for DWP ‘conceded’, or agreed, that where a condition affects someone for ANY part of a day, then it should be treated as applying for the WHOLE of that day.
The only time that a condition would not be regarded as affecting someone for the whole day is if it affected them for only a ‘trivial’ part of the day. Trivial means insignificant or small – so a condition, say, which only affected you for 10 minutes in the day might be seen as trivial for the purposes of this counting rule.
The important principle is that conditions which affect you for only part of a day are legally regarded as affecting you for the whole day when it comes to the 50% rule. Imagine you have fibromyalgia and have flares of pain for two or three hours per day which prevent you, while you have the flare, from cooking or bathing.
That’s more than a trivial part of the day, so for PIP you are regarded as unable to cook or bathe for the whole day. If this happens 4 days out of the week (or 16/17 days of the months), then that’s more than 50% of the time, so you meet those PIP descriptor tests and should get points. This is the law.
As we all know, the DWP like to follow their own rules. You may find it hard to persuade assessors and decision makers to accept your argument. But a Tribunal will know the law, and apply it fairly. It underlines the fact that if you want PIP, you have to be prepared and determined enough to appeal, if you want fair and legal treatment.
Why hasn t PIP paid me?
You might need to challenge the decision or start a new claim. It depends on the reason the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) stopped or reduced your PIP. The DWP might have stopped or reduced your PIP because:
you didn’t return a review form in time you’ve reached the end of your fixed-term PIP award you had a medical assessment and the DWP decided your condition has improved you missed a medical assessment you told the DWP about a change of circumstances and they decided you can’t get PIP any more the DWP is taking back a benefit overpayment you’ve been accused of benefit fraud
If the DWP say your PIP has stopped because you’re subject to immigration control, get help from an adviser, If you’re not sure why the DWP stopped or reduced your PIP, you can:
check any letters the DWP have sent you – they should explain what has happened call the PIP enquiry line and ask them to explain
Personal Independence Payment (PIP) enquiry line Telephone: 0800 121 4433 Textphone: 0800 121 4493 Relay UK – if you can’t hear or speak on the phone, you can type what you want to say: 18001 then 0800 121 4433 You can use Relay UK with an app or a textphone.
How far back is PIP backdated?
There are 3 stages to claiming PIP:
- Contact the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and fill in the PIP1 form – they can do this for you over the phone
- Fill in the ‘How your disability affects you’ form – you can choose to get a paper form by post or get an email with a link to an online form
- Go to a medical assessment
It can take up to 6 months from when you first contact the DWP to when you get your first payment. If the DWP decide you can get PIP, they’ll pay you the money you should have got from the date you started your claim. You can’t backdate PIP – this means you won’t get any money for time before you made your claim.
- your full name, address and phone number
- your National Insurance number
- your bank or building society account details
- contact details of your GP or other health professionals you deal with
- the dates and details of any stays in hospital or residential care
- your nationality or immigration status
- if you’ve been abroad for more than 4 weeks at a time in the last 3 years (you’ll need the dates and details)
Personal Independence Payment claim line Telephone: 0800 917 2222 Textphone: 0800 917 7777 Relay UK – if you can’t hear or speak on the phone, you can type what you want to say: 18001 then 0800 917 2222 You can use Relay UK with an app or a textphone.
- There’s no extra charge to use it.
- Find out how to use Relay UK on the Relay UK website.
- Video relay – if you use British Sign Language (BSL).
- You can find out how to use video relay on YouTube.
- Calling from abroad: +44 191 218 7766 Monday to Friday, 8am to 5pm Calls are free from mobiles and landlines.
It should take about 20 minutes to complete the call. If you’d prefer someone else to call for you that’s fine, but you need to be with them so you can give permission for them to speak for you. The DWP will ask if you want them to send you the ‘How your disability affects you’ form by post or by email.
What are the new PIP rules?
New Personal Independence Payments (PIP) benefit rules will start from August after a shake-up was confirmed by the Department for Work and Pensions ( DWP ). The Government is changing the rules next month to simplify the process for those with severe medical issues and limited chance of improvement.
- The way PIP claims are renewed will be changing for thousands of claimants and the DWP said its light touch process “will complement our policy of regular reviews”.
- More than three million people across the UK are now claiming PIP, including over 20,000 in Lancashire,
- The benefit can help with extra living costs if you have both a long-term physical or mental health condition or disability and difficulty doing certain everyday tasks or getting around because of your condition.
READ MORE:
- DWP issues warning to anyone who owns a passport in stance against fraudsters
- DWP could owe thousands up to £450 in cost of living payments – but only if they report it
You can get PIP even if you’re working, have savings or are getting most other benefits. PIP began replacing Disability Living Allowance (DLA) in 2013 for those aged 16 to 64. Some claimants with “high levels of functional impairment” and no likelihood of improvements to their condition get an ongoing award of PIP that has no end date.
- In such cases, a minimal review of the claim is carried out after 10 years to check eligibility and payment levels, BirminghamLive reports.
- This process is now being streamlined from next month, the DWP said.
- Under the new system, claimants will use a shorter PIP renewal form, and a face-to-face health assessment will no longer be required unless there have been changes in the person’s medical condition.
The DWP said: “Reviews are a key feature of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and ensure that payments accurately match the current needs of claimants. For those with long-term conditions and with an ongoing award, the intention has always been to have a light touch review appropriate to the needs of the claimant, at the 10-year point (which we are now reaching for the first people who those who began receiving PIP in 2013) “Award rates and their durations are set on an individual basis, based on the claimant’s needs and the likelihood of those needs changing: durations can vary from nine months to an ongoing award.
Since 2019, most people receiving PIP who reach State Pension age move onto ongoing awards with a light touch review unless it is likely that their needs would change in the shorter term – for example, because of therapy or treatment. “We know that when people reach pension age, they are more likely to keep the same PIP award following an award review.
Drawing on insight from stakeholders, we have developed a simplified form focussing on how a claimant’s ability to do certain everyday tasks and move around may have changed. “These reviews will be introduced in August this year. In most cases, we do not expect an assessment with a healthcare professional will be required unless there has been a change of circumstances that affects those abilities.” The DWP added: “The light touch process will complement our policy of regular reviews, which are designed so that payments accurately match the current needs of people claiming PIP.
Can you be awarded PIP without a face to face assessment?
Unless you have a terminal illness you’ll usually have to have an assessment to complete your Personal Independence Payment (PIP) application. It’s an opportunity for you to talk about how your condition affects you – it’s not a diagnosis of your condition or a medical examination.