More and more people are claiming Personal Independence Payment (PIP), leaving the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) overwhelmed. This means many disabled people are waiting months for an assessment to access the money they desperately need.
Around 3.5 million people are currently out of work due to ill health or disability. Last year there was a sharp rise in PIP applications and many had to wait three months before receiving any kind of support.
The number of working-age people unable to work due to illness or disability has soared as a result of COVID-19 amid unprecedented delays to routine and specialist NHS services, CambridgeshireLive reports.
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There is an increased demand for financial support to meet the additional costs associated with health conditions and waiting times for assessment can reach up to 12 weeks. Applicants have only a two in five chance of submitting a successful application.
The DWP has agreed to backdate the preliminary payment to the date you initially submitted your application if it is successful.
The Labour Party manifesto stated: “Work capability assessment is broken and needs to be reformed or replaced.” This means further changes could be on the way.
Five things you should know about PIP before you claim:
- Entitlement to PIP is not based solely on an individual’s health status or disability, but on the long-term impact that a health status or disability has on an individual’s daily life or mobility.
- To qualify for PIP, the impacts of a health condition or disability must have been present for three months and are expected to last at least nine more months.
- PIP applicants will undergo a functional assessment which will take into account how their health condition or disability affects 12 key daily activities that are essential to living an independent life.
- If a person can perform PIP daily activities and mobility safely, to an acceptable level, repeatedly and over a reasonable period of time, without support from someone or without using equipment, they are unlikely to get PIP.
- When applying for PIP, people should provide all relevant information they already have about how their health condition affects them. This can mean that a health professional can assess the application using this information and does not need a face-to-face or virtual consultation, and a decision can be made more quickly. The DWP says that people should not request new documents for their application as these may attract a fee, for example from GPs.
12 PIP activities considered within the evaluation:
- Preparing food;
- Eating and drinking;
- Treatment management;
- Washing and bathing;
- Managing bathroom needs;
- Dressing and undressing;
- Release;
- Reading;
- Mix with other people;
- Making decisions about money;
- Go out;
- Moving around.
For each task, the DWP will consider:
- If you can do so safely;
- Wow, that takes you so long!
- How often your condition affects this activity;
- Whether you need help to do it, either from a person or using additional equipment.
