dla to pip

If you are/were 65 in April 2013 then you dont have to apply but unfortunately for the likes of myself you do I was 66 last August and on DLA Mobility/Carers indefinite but come September the dratted letter came through the door. Anyway I had my assessment at home at the beginning of January and have just today received a letter saying they apologise for the wait but they now have all the documentation and information and that I will be hearing if my claim is successful shortly!! So we OAP's are not imune, let us see how it goes but I shall definitely go to tribunal if refused.

I thought that a home assessment for PIP was not the norm?

When I telephoned the PIP helpline after receiving the letter asking if I wanted to move from DLA to PIP, the lady told me that you could only have one if you would normally only have home visits by the GP with a letter being sent from the GP to ATOS confirming that to be the case. She made it clear after I told her that I always see the GP at the surgery due to the vast number of patients wanting help and with every home visit,10 more patients could be seen,that I would not be given a homer assessment.

I am in the South East under ATOS if that makes any difference. 

Hi I have just recieved my letter today I have till 26th of this month to make a claim can you tell me does dla stop completely now until you have been accessed by pip

No, as long as you apply for PIP by the date stated and return the forms on time your DLA will continue untill a decision has been made you PIP. If you don't apply by the time stated you DLA will stop.

Age Limit

If you aged 65 or over on 8 April 2013 when PIP was introduced, you can continue to get Disability Living Allowance for as long as you’re eligible.

Why is more detail important? From posts that have been on here, they don't take any notice of what you say on the form and doctors support anyway so why bother? 

Hi Sarah,

From my experience with the DWP, how you enter information on the form is essential, missing off important information can lose your whole DLA / PIP. It is a government document, you do not play games with the government, it just causes more hassle for yourself and your PIP can be easily lost or lowered. It is a vital part of your application, just ticking boxes, will probably get you an assessment you need to aim higher!

I applied for an upgrade on my DLA Care Component which was at the middle rate, and mobility was on high rate. I applied for the form last July, my wife and I spent 4 days collating all information and reports together. All medication that was being prescribed, how much and how often per day. This also included reports of 6 BoTox injections which are given by my neurologist every 10 weeks. A letter confirming the dosages and to which muscles was also included from the British President of Neurology.

Now, the letter stated do not fill in the first 2 pages because they did not apply, however in my case we filled it all in which was four A4 sides, with additional information supplied on 6 other separate A4 sheets, each one was complete with my National Insurance Number on, my address, and landline phone, mobile was not included because my wife has to speak on my behalf, because of a speech disorder from Dystonic Nerve conditions.

A four page letter was also included from my Occupational Therapist.

Once all this was done, then we scanned it all, before sending it all off to the DWP. They sent us an acknowledgement letter within 2 weeks. Just before the 12 week period, we received another letter stating, the case was still being looked at, which was understable considering the amount of paperwork that we sent.

About another 2 months passed before I received a letter stating the Care Component had been changed from the Middle Rate to the High Rate. The person that had dealt with my case also phoned me, but my wife had to take the call, he was asking why we had not applied for the High Rate before, he said we can only back date the difference to July, which we knew anyway. He even said under the circumstances he wish he could back date it further, but of course they cannot do that. I had about £400 backdated.

I needed no "face-to-face", with the amount of information that was sent and some of it coming from top consultants in the country (I do not think they would mess around with my case). There is no way on this earth I can make up what problems I have, and all the medications I have to take a day.

If you compare the PIP Award Application Form which is online with the one on paper there is a big difference. The online version has shrunk in the past 6 months, not by questions but by how much information you can enter. So, if you fill in the online version - you can expect a 20% chance of getting to the assessment stage. This is why, I do not advise anyone to fill in the online copy - you are restricted in too many ways.

But you have to consiider how your disability or disorder affects you from doing certain tasks, then look at how the questions are set out, bearing in mind the trick questions that will just zero your application.

There is a lot of reasons to bother, if you are disabled to a degree then you should bother - look how many people have not tried for PIP, since they lost their DLA they don't try for PIP, which caught many that were not supposed to be claiming in the first place. A genuine person that deserves the payment should be entitled to PIP and not lose it, but we have to extremes in order to keep PIP. Sad really, but thats what this country has come to...

Regards,

Les.

In my case I found the arresting statement the police use. "If you say anything it may be used later as evidence ... etc"

It's a difficult document to fill in and if you aren't good at filling forms in, I'd strongly suggest you seek help. 

Don't be afraid to enclose more information on seperate sheets of paper. The more info you can give the better your chances are.

I found that when I went to tribunal, a lot of what I enclosed in my PIP 2 form was not taken into consideration by the HP when I was assessed. That went a long way in my favour since the HP left out my main condition which thankfully the tribunal doctor remarked upon and knew quite a lot about my illness to make a decision

I threw everything bar the kitchen sink in my application for PIP. I wasn't surprised when I was sent to a face to face and I wasn't surprised to be handed a lesser award. 

I went to Mandatory R and again no surprises when the award remained the same but by then I had so much evidence both from my docs and clinic letters that it resembled War and Peace

I had to fight and go to tribunal - I saw little option since it would mean total isolation and no attendance to clinic appointments. I live too far away from the nearest bus stop and in any case I could not walk to any degree without losing circulation and feeling very ill

I cannot afford a car but I would have had to buy one knowing that my insurance would be sky high due to having a dubious accident in the last 3 years

Anyway, back to the issue of evidence. Get as much as you can, try and get support from anyone that knows you well and if your GP is understanding, let them help you

Good luck and yes it is sad but it's the way things are

 

Not necessarily Les.   I qualify for depression for lower rate DLA but this category is being abolished.  I doubt whether I would qualify for middle rate PIP because the criteria is different. It doesn't mean that I am not genuine just that they have changed the goal posts again and I will lose out.  x

Yes, I have heard the same Bev.

It is bad that they feel to need to change the qualifying areas, but so many people are still out there claiming benefits, take today for instance.

One guy was filmed in his local gym, walking on a treadmill for over 50 metres, squats, push ups, weight lifting, etc for over a hour, yet he was claiming he had mobility problems and needed a walking stick to get around and could not walk more than 10 metres. He claimed £20,00 in benefits.

or

In another case, a woman was claiming £32,000 in benefits yet owned 3 pubs!!

But if you go to the other end of the scale then you see how bad the DWP really is to its own staff!

A DWP employee has been sacked after 10 years for having too much sick leave, despite having terminal cancer

You can't win either way if you see stories like this in the media, the DWP is still working at a loss even using Maximus, £800 million was supposed to be made, but they failed to make any change. Claimants are costing the DWP more each time they refuse to pay disabled people the rates that they are really due, hence they are losing all the time because people that are genuine are not giving in to having their PIP stopped or reduced, so they end up in a tribunal costing more money. IDS plans are not working and it is so obvious.

What I'm am worried about is the mystery survey from Opinion Outpost being sent to PIP Claimants, it would be good if someone came forward if they had received one.

Regards,

Les.

Hi Les, taking issue with your recent comment:

look how many people have not tried for PIP, since they lost their DLA they don't try for PIP, which caught many that were not supposed to be claiming in the first place. A genuine person that deserves the payment should be entitled to PIP and not lose it

.Many disabled people that have a highish award of DLA - middle/higher are not making the move over to PIP simply because they were 'swinging the lead' when making the DLA claim and know that PIP will catch them out. They fear the processes of PIP, the stress that is involved, the effort they are forced to make to gather evidence (when in fact there is no obligation on the claimant to submit any evidence - the regulations make that clear) and the worry that they will probably have to undergo regular re-assessments/face to face assessments and possibly Tribunal appeals for the rest of their life.

There is no longer a generally accepted award of 'indefinite' with PIP.

As for the research/opinions being canvassed. I had a letter late last year from the Office of National Statistics that said someone would be calling on ********* to carry out a survey of my disabilities/needs and how I feel/think/believe that they have been accepted and met by the government.

Obviously they are talking about my DLA claim so must have obtained information from the DWP. The letter went on to say that the 'book of 12 postage stamps' is a thank my co-operation.

To say the least I told the guy when he turned up to do one.

 

Hi Les,

The Outpost was asking people about a £20-£30 drop in DLA and PIP payments, which is what worried me. That is a lot of money to lose in a month.

I agree with you Les, I know a woman she is not claiming any benefits, neither can she hold any job for even a day, because it is obvious that her disability affects her in many ways. She even tried for PIP on her own, but to be honest she needs help completing the form, and how she filled it in caused the DWP to not even give her a chance of a claim for PIP, because they even refused to even assess her, she is autistic - So, it is obvious she needs help completing th forms.

Basically, her husband and a £300 drop in wages just before Christmas, they dropped his wages to the minimum pay per a hour. He is already, working full time, and it is now not covering all their outgoings. So, he is now looking for another part time job!!

My wife and I helped them get their first bungalow many years ago, only because I know many people in the right places, these days that makes no difference since you have to bid online for properties. Back then we knew the MP and Mayor, we were good friends with them.

As they say these days, you need a Mathematics Degree to see if you are even eligible for PIP, now how many people do you know that would go that far?

Regards,

Les.

Well I don't know about you but I would rather people falsely claimed rather than genuine ones suffer.  There wouldn't be more money for us even if everyone was found to be genuine would there?  So why worry about it?  x

That is one way of looking at it, but the DWP is so slow and behind with assessments I was told mine could be put back even further from 2017 to 2018.

But I have noticed an incline in DLA "indefinite" periods being processed whether this is because of the change from Zones to random I do not know.

The reason I worry about it is because I have so many hospital appointments every month, on top of that is doctor apppointments and Community Dentist appointments (that deal with the special cases of disabled people). Without a car I would literally be stuck, I cannot even steer a standard wheelchair my wife has to push me around in a small wheeled wheelchair.