PIP tips: How to make sure you keep your payments in 2022

Personal Independence Payment: Advice on how to claim

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Personal Independence Payments (PIP) are awarded by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to help with any extra living costs. PIP payments are reviewed regularly by the DWP. Here’s some guidance to make sure you keep your PIP award.

Those who are eligible for PIP can receive between £94.80 and £608.60 every four weeks.

PIP awards are usually given for a minimum period of three months, but it can stretch to 10 years in some cases.

When someone is granted a PIP award – entitling them to receive funds from the DWP to cover increased living costs, they will be told in writing the length of time that they will receive the payments.

Although PIP awards tend to be fixed for a number of years, the DWP has the right to review your application at any time.

If your PIP award is under review – or scheduled to be reviewed – the DWP will send you a new form to fill out.

This is called the “PIP Award Review form” or the “AR1 form”.

You must fill out this form as accurately as possible, as your award can be changed or terminated depending on the information you give.

It’s essential that you fill out and return your form before the deadline. If you don’t, your PIP may be ended automatically.

If you are unable to fill out the form before the deadline, you must phone the DWP as soon as possible to ask for an extension. The number to call will be provided on the form.

Make sure you note the time you made the call, the person who dealt with the call, and your new deadline, in case you need to challenge a decision in the future.

Make sure you have a copy of your form for your records. Try and scan or photocopy your form before sending it.

For added peace of mind, you can send the form to the DWP via recorded delivery (although a freepost envelope is provided).

What happens when the DWP reviews your form?

Your form will be reviewed by a DWP case manager who will compare the new information you give to your previous assessment.

It will be the job of the caseworker to review your claim; not a health professional.

They will make sure your evidence is accurate enough for you to continue receiving PIP.

Tips for completing the form

Your PIP award could stop if you fail to fill out the form correctly.

Be as detailed and as accurate as possible. If you need more space than the boxes on the form provides to describe your situation, it’s well worth adding extra pages to your form.

Make sure you add your name and national insurance number to each of these additional pages, and staple them to the rest of the form so they don’t get lost.

Even if your situation hasn’t changed, try to avoid simply writing “no change” on your form. You should still give detailed information about the hardships you face conducting everyday activities in the same way as your first assessment.

Benefits and Work, an independent benefits forum which advises disability benefit claimants, told the Daily Record: “There is a real risk that if you just state ‘no change’ you could end up at an assessment where the health professional has very little information about how your condition affects you.

“You will then be entirely reliant on their skill at asking the right questions and recording your evidence accurately.”

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