PIP Award - Mistake by DWP - Urgent Advice wanted!

Simon7685

I have decided to start a new thread for this in the hope it will attract some sound advice for when I ring PIP tomorrow.

I was on DLA indefinitely with HRM and MRC. I attended the assessment in June which went well, the lady assessing said she supported what I had written in the application, which gave me some optimism going forward.

I received my award letter from PIP on Saturday. I was awarded standard rate mobility with a score of 10 points. It says it is for an ongoing period and they will not contact me for reassessment until after 08 June 2026! This shocked me as I didn't think they awarded for long periods like that with PIP?

It was only when looking through the award later again that I found a mistake and contradiction, which I am now clinging to with hope that it will result an award for daily living.

On the front page of the letter it states the following;

I can award you standard rate of mobility from 17 August 2016

At this time I cannot award you PIP for help with your daily living needs from 11 April 2016.

However it then goes onto the points awarded for daily living and clearly states that if you score between 8 and 11 points you will be awarded the standard rate for daily living.

Points awarded;

Preparing Food - 2
Eating & Drinking - 0
Managing your treatments - 0
Washing & Bathing - 2
Managing your toilet needs - 2
Dressing & Undressing - 2
Communicating - 0
Reading - 0
Mixing with People - 0
Making Budgeting decisions - 0

Your total score for the daily living part of PIP is 8 points. This means you have been awarded the (blank space) rate.

Now unless I am missing a trick surely this is a mistake?

However what is the best way forward? I don't want to risk losing everything on a mandatory reconsideration, will they do this or just look again at the daily living component and rectify the mistake?

Or is there a more straightforward way to do this?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated on the best way forward.

Thanks in advance.

Alice_Walker

It is certainly worth calling to ask for an explanation. There's clearly an error, either the points breakdown is wrong and you didn't get that many, or it is correct and you should have an award. They'll probably offer you a call back from a decision maker who can clarify.

Ten year awards do happen. It would be unusual in a fresh application, but not so much for a DLA migration.

Simon7685

Thanks for that info Alice, would you say it is best to ask for a decision maker to call me back, or will they offer it automatically?

My previous dealings with DLA switchboard was it was almost impossible to get past them, or they said a DM would call you and it never happened. Having not had much esperience with PIP I don't know what they are like?

Simon7685

I have just rung PIP about my claim. I spoke to a really nice lady who agreed that there was a problem. She said she has put through to the case manager to ring me urgently with a resolution. Normally that can take up to 5 days but she has put a maximum time limit on it of 48 hours as she agrees it is unfair for me to wait that long and I need to know where I am with my award. She has said that either way they will have to send out a new award letter as well.

If they decide to take points away from me I will appeal though as I agree with the points awarded. I knew the mobility would reduce because of the change in distance for walking but I expected to get 8 to 10 points on daily living. So if they change it to less I want a full explanation and then appeal.

So I will update when they call back in next 48 hours - hopefully today though, so I know where I am..........

Simon7685

Well 48 hours comes and 48 hours goes, no callback received........

I have rung up again, to be told that I should not have been told to expect a callback within 48 hours. It may be in 24 hours or may be up to 5 days! Naturally I expressed my feelings about this but ultimately they will ask again for a callback which may be within 24 hours or may be in 5 days. I asked was that 5 days from Monday or today, they said they will try to have it counting from Monday.........

I have to say I find this completely unacceptable, they have made a mistake, simple as that. The issue is whether that mistake is in their favour or mine. Things like this should not happen, surely if 8 points is input on the system they should have automatically awarded the daily living at standard rate!

I pointed out that I cannot move forward with things until I know whether or not they are going to give me the award or not. The clock on appealing is already ticking, yet I do not know whether I need to appeal or not. I can't even ask for a mandatory reconsideration because I don't know if it is required.

When I worked for DWP and we made decisions, we were always contactable and it is about time that this was brought back. They do not seem to realise that peoples lives are involved and they don't need the added stress and strain that the current system brings.

[Deleted User]

You're best starting the mandatory reconsideration process than waiting to talk to someone. At least you won't miss the date that way and may even get an answer that way rather than waiting for a phone call.

Simon7685

I did consider that but I don't see how I can ask for a mandatory reconsideration when I don't know what I am asking them to reconsider? At the moment it is a mistake on the letter. Either the 8 points awarded are correct and a mistake has been made in the award notice or they have awarded points that they didn't mean to?

The baffling part is how a situation like this can happen, with todays technology surely if 8 points are input into the system it should automatically award the payment. Going back to the late 90's when I worked at DWP the boxes were filled in on the system and it automatically awarded payment at the right rate. I cannot believe that it operates any differently now surely?

Simon7685

Update & Resolution!

I rang the helpline again on Monday after still not hearing anything. I was told that nothing had happened with my case since I first called a week ago. Obviously I was not impressed but the person I spoke to was the first to say that it was unacceptable and I should have been called by now. She went on to explain that the limit of their power was to escalate it again and that I should write in with an official complaint. I said I would certainly be doing that and also contacting my MP and also the Sec of State for work and pensions. She said that she would put notes on the escalation to say that was happening.

I spent all day Tuesday formulating a complaint and letters to my MP and Sec of state. On wednesday morning I was just reading them through for the final time before printing and the phone rang.....

It was the DWP, the case manager I spoke to apologised several times and said I should have been contacted earlier but the person who got the file last Monday had gone off sick, so it had just been sat waiting for action in an in tray.

I was told that I was correct and they had made a mistake with the award. I did qualify for living needs at the standard rate. What had happened went back to the initial call after receiving my "invite" to claim PIP. The person I spoke to then had incorrectly put down that I lived in funded accommodation and not housing association sheltered accommodation. This meant that although I qualified I wouldn't receive the payment as care and living needs were provided through the funded accommodation.

She told me that the award had been corrected and that I would be getting a new award letter and that payments would start from the same dates as in the original letter. She went on to say that both the mobility and living needs were awarded until at least June 2026 which is the maximum length of time they could make the award for. So hopefully I can breathe easy for the next 10 years without worrying about having to go another assessment.

Obviously I am delighted to find that I won't have to go through the appeal route, which was worrying me already, even though I have won 2 appeals with DLA.

It also seems that the assessor that said she would be supporting my application, did what she said.

For now I am just glad I can stop worrying about things.

50Twuncle

Congratulations, Simon on the outcome - it gives me more hope that I will be treated fairly when DWP finally get round to dealing with my 11 year DLA benefit, transfer to PIP