Posting PIP form by courier...

darrenforster99

Hi,

I've got a PIP form that needs to be with the DWP by tomorrow, I was going to post it yesterday but unfortunately our post office in town has decided to change it's opening hours without telling anyone and so was shut when I went. We live in a small rural town and our post office is absolutely useless, it's in the One Stop but you never know when it's going to be open as they just randomly change opening times all the time - at one point it used to open till 10pm, then it was 5:30pm, then it went to 4pm, now it seems it's only open when staff who are post office trained are there although no-one seems to know when that is.

I was debating one of two things to make sure the PIP gets there - firstly I thought about driving all the way over to Kidderminster and posting the form there as someone has told me the forms going to Post Handling Site B in Wolverhampton actually go to Capita in Kidderminster, so I guess if I go to Kidderminster to post it it's at least in the right town, and also there is probably more chance the PO will actually be open! Also if I did send it by Royal Mail I was thinking probably best option is to send it by the 24 hour special delivery - I know it'll cost more but at least it's guaranteed to arrive tomorrow - the other option I was thinking was to book a next day delivery option with Parcel2Go instead as it's more likely to be cheaper than the PO, plus I could go to my local parcel shop and drop it off which I know would be open! Does anyone know if the DWP accept PIP forms via a different parcel company like UPS or does it have to be sent by Royal Mail?

The other thing is I'm already on an extension as the deadline for sending it back was when I was away on a holiday, do you think if I call them and explain to them that I went to the post office to post it yesterday but the PO was shut due to new opening times they'd give a few days extra to ensure that it reaches them?

TELLIT01

The only option I would consider of those you propose is Royal Mail Special Delivery, although even that isn't guaranteed to get there. Using any form of courier is pointless.
There is no harm in contacting DWP to let them know the situation, although they don't have to accept late receipt after an extension has been granted.

darrenforster99

ok thanks for the information. I'll try calling them - seems a bit annoying that our local post office has such random opening times, it seems the staff just seem to change the opening times as and when they need to. There was another post office in the next town on (Tenbury) but unfortunately that shut down as it was inside a store that struggled to keep going when Tesco came to town (so much for Tesco "supporting local communities") leaving us with just this One Stop PO that is hit and miss when it's open (and quite ironically One Stop is owned by Tesco!)

poppy12345

You have left it rather late to return the forms and you will need to ring DWP to tell them the forms will be late. Hopefully they will accept your reasons.



Next day signed for delivery doesn't mean anything when returning mail to DWP. All mail is sent to a mail sorting office and signed for delivery means it's signed for by someone from Royal Mail, not from DWP. Post isn't classed as arriving until it's been added to the computer and this can take at least 7 working days.

[Deleted User]

OP couldn't you have driven to a different PO yesterday? However once they receive the PIP form it takes 5-8 working days to be scanned on to the system, so they do allow a few days grace, would still phone them and tell them its in the post.

bspm1

I returned mine 29th July, it was signed as received 31st July, as of today, still not scanned in.

45002

darrenforster99 wrote:

Hi,

I've got a PIP form that needs to be with the DWP by tomorrow, I was going to post it yesterday but unfortunately our post office in town has decided to change it's opening hours without telling anyone and so was shut when I went. We live in a small rural town and our post office is absolutely useless, it's in the One Stop but you never know when it's going to be open as they just randomly change opening times all the time - at one point it used to open till 10pm, then it was 5:30pm, then it went to 4pm, now it seems it's only open when staff who are post office trained are there although no-one seems to know when that is.

I was debating one of two things to make sure the PIP gets there - firstly I thought about driving all the way over to Kidderminster and posting the form there as someone has told me the forms going to Post Handling Site B in Wolverhampton actually go to Capita in Kidderminster, so I guess if I go to Kidderminster to post it it's at least in the right town, and also there is probably more chance the PO will actually be open! Also if I did send it by Royal Mail I was thinking probably best option is to send it by the 24 hour special delivery - I know it'll cost more but at least it's guaranteed to arrive tomorrow - the other option I was thinking was to book a next day delivery option with Parcel2Go instead as it's more likely to be cheaper than the PO, plus I could go to my local parcel shop and drop it off which I know would be open! Does anyone know if the DWP accept PIP forms via a different parcel company like UPS or does it have to be sent by Royal Mail?

The other thing is I'm already on an extension as the deadline for sending it back was when I was away on a holiday, do you think if I call them and explain to them that I went to the post office to post it yesterday but the PO was shut due to new opening times they'd give a few days extra to ensure that it reaches them?

You post the form to the address on the PIP form/envelope they enclose with the form and Not to where someone has told you it may end up.


Just drive to another post office as others have advised you.






...

seven-day-weekend

Get a Cerificate of Posting to prove when you sent it

[Deleted User]

I had similar difficulties (cut returning my PIP form to the last couple of days because I had a lot of difficulties filling it out). Due to delays in appts to get help filling it in (which actually didn't, I had to rewrite it), I had already been given two extensions. They do give more than one extension. However I did send it back by special delivery and everything was fine.

I stopped using a similar post office with ever changing opening times, went to a further away one because at least I knew when it was open.