PIP (Personal Independence Payment) claimants have been warned about a key change to how assessments are processed and their payments are determined.
The benefit provides financial help to those who live with a long term health condition or disability, with varying payments depending on how you are affected in your daily life and in your mobility.
There is a lower and higher rate for each part meaning payments can vary from £28.70 a week to more than six times this amount, at £184.30 a week.
These are the current payment rates:
Mobility element
- Lower – £28.70
- Higher – £75.75.
Daily living element
- Lower – £72.65
- Higher – £108.55.
Applicants often go through an assessment to work out how they are affected by their condition and how much they should receive.
If you disagree with your decision, you can ask for your application to be looked at again through a process called mandatory reconsideration. You can also request this for decisions for other benefits, such as Universal Credit and Pension Credit.
The DWP was asked in Parliament about what the department is doing to improve response times and ensure mandatory reconsiderations are “adequately assessed”.
DWP minister, Sir Stephen Timms, said in response that legally “there is not time limit” as to when mandatory reconsiderations must be made.
He said: “This reflects the overarching policy that the focus should be on making the right decision and not on the speed of response.
“Decisions should always be made without delay, but if the decision maker believes more time is needed to gather or consider evidence, they must give themselves that time to ensure they are confident that the decision made is correct.”
Turning to PIP, Mr Timms said the DWP is stepping up its efforts: “For PIP we are recruiting mandatory reconsideration decision makers and making overtime available to increase productivity.
“We have a multi-tiered Quality Assurance Framework to ensure mandatory reconsideration decisions are legal and payments are accurate, and decision makers receive thorough training on all aspects of decision-making.”
Mandatory reconsideration is a free process, which you can request if you think there were errors or missing evidence in how your claim was processed, if you disagree with the decision, or if you want the DWP to look at your case again.
To request this, you will need to contact the benefits office that gave you the decision. You may be able to contact them over the phone, using your Universal Credit journal or by letter.
These contact details should be included in your decision letter. Some decisions cannot be reconsidered and have to go straight to appeal, which is a different process.
You can ask for mandatory reconsideration for these benefits:
- Attendance Allowance
- Bereavement Allowance
- Carer’s Allowance
- Carer’s Credit
- Child maintenance (sometimes known as ‘child support’)
- Compensation Recovery Scheme (including NHS recovery claims)
- Diffuse Mesothelioma Payment Scheme
- Disability Living Allowance (DLA)
- Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)
- Funeral Expenses Payment
- Income Support
- Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit
- Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA)
- Maternity Allowance
- National Insurance credits
- Pension Credit
- Personal Independence Payment (PIP)
- Sure Start Maternity Grant
- Universal Credit (including advance payments)
- Winter Fuel Payment.
