Personal Independence Payment

Personal Independence Payment or (PIP) is a benefit which replaced DLA for people of working age from April 2013. It assesses your ability to carry out activities to do with daily living and/or mobility.

The rate you are awarded will be based on the impact of the disability or health condition on your day to day needs and how much help you need.

It is a working age benefit for people aged 16 to State Pension Age. It is non means tested, non contributory and non taxable.

Attendance allowance is for people of state pension age and over.

Since June 2013, new claims are for PIP.

If you get DLA, you’ll be invited to claim PIP at some stage. This could be when your award runs out or you have a change of circumstances, but it also includes those people on DLA with lifetime awards.

It is important that you get advice and make the claim for PIP because once you have the invite to claim PIP your award for DLA will end and you could be left with no disability benefit in place.

Initial claims are made:

• over the phone 0800 917 2222
• textphone 0800 917 7777

Once your claim has been made you should phone 0800 121 4433 if you have any further enquiries.

There are 2 forms

PIP1

The initial claim form is completed over the phone when you make your claim. It asks you to supply your name, contact details, payment details. It also asks you about your nationality, whether you are in hospital or residential care or if you are terminally ill.

Terminal illness claims are fast tracked and get enhanced rate daily living.

Terminal illness is where you have a progressive disease where you are likely to die within 12 months. Ask your GP or specialist to complete the DS1500 form which you can submit when you make your claim. You are not expected to complete the (PIP2) questionnaire for your care needs but you will need to complete it if you have mobility needs and want to claim the mobility component.

PIP2

The PIP2 form is a more detailed questionnaire which is used as part of the assessment process carried out by the DWP when working out if you are entitled to PIP.

It is important to spend time filling in the PIP2 questionnaire as your account of your needs is used as evidence throughout the assessment of the claim. If there is sufficient information and evidence with the questionnaire the decision could be made without a consultation with a healthcare professional. The form asks for permission for the DWP to contact your own doctors and other professionals who know about how your health condition affects you.  It is important that those doctor/ professionals are fully informed about difficulties you have in completing the activities in the assessment

The form will have your name and address printed on it and will have an information booklet on how to complete it. There will be a letter explaining that you must return it by a certain date (normally one month this can be extended if you ring them) and that you must not delay it waiting for evidence in support of the claim.

You can request a form that you can fill in online. This can be helpful if you are being assisted to complete the form by someone else. However please note that when you have completed the form you must still print it, sign it, and return by post in the usual way.

If you do have evidence that supports how your disability affects you it is best to send it in with the questionnaire it can also be sent after you have returned the questionnaire but it needs to be before the decision is made. It will also give you an opportunity to discuss your claim with your doctor or consultant or psychiatrist so they can support you with the right evidence.

If you were 65 or older on 8 April 2013 you will remain on DLA and will not be expected to claim PIP.

Existing claimants will remain on DLA until they are invited to make a claim for PIP. Transfer will not be automatic. You will receive a letter inviting you to claim and giving you 28 days in which to make the claim.  The letter should also tell you that your DLA award will end if you do not make a claim for PIP.  If you have not made a claim within 28 days your claim will be suspended, although the DWP can extend this period if they think it is reasonable to do so.

If your DLA has been suspended because you have not made a PIP claim in time, you will get a letter to say that if you don’t make the claim within a further 28 days your DLA claim will end.

There is now an option to complete the form online if you have digital access. DWP will email you a link and you can share that link with the person who is supporting you to fill in the form. The form still needs to be printed off, but it may allow someone to help you complete it without being face to face. A month to return the form and find help is short so it is important that you do not delay completing it or getting help.

To get PIP you must be aged 16 to State Pension Age

If you claim PIP prior to pension age you can remain on it.

You must satisfy (waiting period) the daily living and/or mobility activities test for 3 months prior to claiming and be likely to continue to satisfy this test for a period of at least 9 months after claiming. You may not have to wait 3 months from the date of the claim if you can show your needs arose prior to the date of claim. DLA claimants will not have to wait 3 months for an award but must show that their condition is likely to remain for a further 9 months.

There are 2 components: a daily living component and a mobility component. Both components have two rates, a standard rate, and an enhanced rate. Unlike DLA there is no lower rate in the daily living category.

Residence and presence conditions

You must:

• not be subject to immigration control
• be habitually resident and have been present in Great Britain for 2 of the past 3 years prior to claiming

This can be a hard test to satisfy and if you are in doubt about your right to live in the UK or if you have lived abroad recently you may need expert advice.

These conditions also apply to Attendance Allowance and DLA for children from April 2013.

The residency test does not apply to refugees, if they meet the disability criteria they are able to apply straight away but the waiting period above still applies.

The consultation

Once you have completed the questionnaire (PIP2) and returned it, most people will be invited to participate in a consultation with a healthcare professional.  

This could be by phone, video or face to face in an assessment centre or occasionally in your own home. You can choose whether you prefer the assessment over the phone or face to face in an assessment centre.

A copy of the questionnaire will be given to the healthcare professional. This could be a doctor, but it might be a physiotherapist, a nurse or CPN.

You should be notified 7 days in advance of this consultation. This can be via a letter or via an email or text if you have agreed.

If you don’t attend the in person or phone consultation or return the questionnaire your claim could be stopped unless you can show you had ‘good reason’ why you did not attend. If you need to alter the time of the assessment you must contact Independent Assessment Services, who carry out the assessments on behalf of the DWP, on 0800 188 4881.

You can take a friend or family member with you to the in-person consultation for support. You can also have a friend or representative join you on the phone call. Interviews are recorded. The assessment starts as soon as you enter the building, and you may not always be seen at the time you were expecting. The report is sent to DWP and a decision maker will decide whether to award based on all the evidence that has been sent in.

If you are not able to get to an assessment centre, you must provide evidence to support why you could not attend. They may accept that you need to be assessed at home or via phone or video. It would be helpful to get a letter from you doctor confirming your difficulties or your need for a home visit if you prefer to be seen fact to face. The assessment centre has to be within 90 minutes of where you live, and you can claim travel costs if you have asked for them in advance.

The assessment

The assessment looks at whether your ability to carry out daily living activities, mobility activities or both is ‘limited’ or ‘severely limited’ by your physical or mental condition.

Choosing the right descriptor within each activity

You choose the descriptor that applies to you most of the time; if more than one descriptor applies you must decide which one applies the most.

For example if a) applies 40% of the time and c) applies 30% of the time, you choose descriptor a).

You can only apply one descriptor from each activity but the score from each activity can be added together to give an overall score.

In deciding whether a descriptor applies you should consider whether the activity can be done:

• safely
• to an acceptable standard
• repeatedly
• in a reasonable time

For an award in either component you need to score a minimum of 8. A score of 8 will mean an award at the standard rate, a score of 12 or more, you will get the enhanced rate.

Daily Living Component           

Standard rate - £73.90         

Enhanced rate - £110.40

Mobility Component                  

Standard rate - £29.20         

Enhanced rate - £77.05

There will be no automatic entitlement to PIP - everyone will be assessed on their personal circumstances.

The only exception is for people who are terminally ill and who are not expected to live for more than 12 months. The DWP will deal with these claims quickly and the person will not need a consultation, or to fulfil the three-month waiting period. They will receive the enhanced rate of the daily living component straightaway but will still have to qualify for the mobility component.

People with a lifetime award of DLA who are of working age will still need to be reassessed under PIP.

Daily living activities 

Mobility Activities

The award notice will advise you of the rate and the length of the award.  

Awards are normally made for a fixed period, for example, one, 2 or 5 years.

An indefinite award could be made but this is less likely.

The notice will also detail your responsibility around changes in your circumstances. About halfway through your award period DWP may send out a short form to see if anything has changed. It may be tempting to say that things have got worse but if you do say things have changed, it is likely to trigger a medical and a new decision that could mean you lose the award or have it reduced. Make sure that, if you say you have got worse, you meet the criteria that means that the award will go up otherwise say on the form that things have remained the same.

The award should then continue for the term it was given although this is not guaranteed.

If the decision maker determines that you are not entitled to PIP, you will be notified in writing and your PIP will not be paid.

DWP will contact you to discuss the decision. If you dispute the decision either because of the rate of award or refusal you will need to request a reconsideration of the decision.

It is mandatory that the initial decision is reconsidered by the department before you are allowed to progress to an appeal. This is called a Mandatory Reconsideration (MR).

To request an MR, or for any other enquiry regarding PIP, phone 0800 121 4433.

It is important to ask for an MR within a month of the date on the decision letter. You should provide more evidence in support of the descriptors you dispute otherwise the decision maker may not change the decision.

If DWP decide you are still not entitled, you can ask for an appeal.

You need to:

• print out form SSCS1
• fill it in
• send it off, enclosing the mandatory reconsideration decision

You can appeal online. Make sure you say why you disagree with the decision and where you should have been given points. Get evidence in support of the descriptors you have chosen.

Your appeal should be heard by an independent tribunal. They will assess you again looking at all the evidence and anything new that you submit to them.

It is always a good idea to have a representative at a tribunal. You might be able to get help with an appeal from the Welfare Rights Team or one of the other advice agencies in the city.

To qualify for the Motability Scheme, you need to be receiving the enhanced rate of the mobility component of PIP for a period of 12 months or more.

An award of 8 to 12 points under the ‘moving around activity’ or 10 points in the ‘planning and following journeys activity’ – because you “cannot undertake any journey because it will cause overwhelming psychological distress” will automatically qualify you to get the Blue Badge. There is an assessed route via the local authority for those people not on the right rate of PIP who have mobility difficulties.

If you get the enhanced rate of the mobility component, you will be exempt from road tax. The standard rate of the mobility component will get you a 50% discount on your road tax.

The daily living component of PIP acts as a passport to Carer’s Allowance.

Carer’s Allowance is £83.30 a week and is paid if you are caring at least 35 hours a week for someone who gets either the standard or enhanced rate of the daily living component of PIP.

You can work and claim Carer’s Allowance if you do not earn more than £196 a week. There is a carer’s element of £201.68 a month included within Universal Credit (UC) for people who have ‘substantial and regular caring responsibilities for a severely disabled person’. This will apply to you if you satisfy the eligibility criteria for Carers Allowance and the person you care for gets the daily living component of PIP.

Carers Allowance will count as other income in the UC calculation so your UC would be reduced accordingly.

Carers have no conditionality under UC, so they are not expected to look for or prepare for work.

There are no disability elements within Universal Credit that are awarded on the basis of an award of PIP.

If you get a legacy benefit such as employment and support allowance and PIP you should get advice before you make a claim for Universal Credit as it may mean you lose money.

Get information and advice from:

• The Welfare Rights team
• Possability People
• Brighton Unemployed Centre Families Project
• Moneyworks
• Access Point