PIP warning: Payment rules will be changed next month – will your income be affected?

Martin Lewis discusses universal credit help for those on PIP

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PIP payments can provide eligible claimants with between £23.60 and £151.40 per week, so long as they’re aged between 16 and state pension age. The amounts awarded will be dependent on how claimants are affected by their conditions and not the condition itself.

Claimants can be eligible for PIP whether they’re working or not.

Additionally, they must have a health condition or disability where they:

  • Have had difficulties with daily living or getting around (or both) for three months
  • Expect these difficulties to continue for at least nine months

The payments themselves are made up of two parts, a daily living part and a mobility part.

Whether a claimant gets one or both of these elements depends on the severity of their condition.

The weekly rate for the daily living part is either £59.70 or £89.15 per week.

The Mobility part will award either £23.60 or £62.25 a week.

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PIP is usually paid every four weeks and should the payment date fall on a bank holiday, claimants will usually be paid before this.

Across all of the UK, the next bank holiday is on April 2, Good Friday.

This means that for PIP claimants that are expecting to have their money arrive on this date, it is more likely to come through on Thursday April 1.

Claimants who are expected to get paid on April 5 are also set to be affected, as this is the Easter Monday bank holiday in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

To make an initial claim for PIP, claimants will need to contact DWP by telephone or textphone.

Before calling, they will need to have the following information ready:

  • Their contact details
  • Their date of birth
  • Their National Insurance number
  • Their bank or building society account number and sort code
  • Their doctor or health worker’s name, address and telephone number
  • Dates and addresses for any time they’ve spent abroad, in a care home or hospital

It is also possible to claim PIP by post but this can delay the eventual decision.

Once an application is put through, claimants will usually go through an assessment process in which an independent health professional will assess their condition.

This assessment will determine how much a person should receive from PIP.

Should a claimant disagree with a decision made on this, they can challenge it through mandatory reconsideration rules.

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