PIP wait time

poppy12345

RobinHill said:

What the representative did say though was that my claim had been passed onto the NHS,

No idea what they mean by this, a PIP claim has nothing to do with anyone from the NHS, unless they contact someone for evidence but it's rare they do this. When ringing DWP you speak to someone from a call centre, who often has no idea about benefits and just reads from a screen.

Once DWP recieve the forms and evidence they send your file to the health assessment providers. Who this will be will depend on what area you're in but it will either be Independent Assessment Services https://www.mypipassessment.co.uk/

Or Capita http://www.capita-pip.co.uk/en/assessment-process.html

From my own experience i've waited anywhere from between 3-10 months for an assessment. My daughter did have a paper based assessment for her last PIP review and from the time i returned the forms to having a decision it took about 10 weeks.

RobinHill

The DWP representative definitely said NHS and that the resources were reduced due to covid based front line duties etc. I have heard that the DWP will in certain circumstances aim to complete the process in-house to avoid the expense of an external assessment, again how accurate this IDK. At least I have the information that at present the waiting time is around 16 weeks, but you could imagine this may worsen still for the near term. Frustrating but nothing I can do other than just wait, but I really hope it doesn't take 10 months.

poppy12345

Which again reminds me just how much the DWP call centre staff know about the claims process, which isn't a lot.  what i advised is correct, your file is forwarded to the health assessment providers who look at your form and evidence and decide from there whether a paper based assessment can be completed. If it can they write the report and return it to DWP.

If it can't then a telephone assessment will be needed and they will then contact you with a date and time for the assessment to take place. Once the assessment is complete they then write the report and return it to DWP. 

Although in fact, there's no timescales.

RobinHill

Well I finally had the telephone assessment this morning, some 6 months after applying. Haven't been sleeping too well of late due to recent surgery and together with worry I guess felt a bit ill beforehand, but picked up during the call. It took 1 and 3/4 hours which I guess was quite lengthy, this was despite them saying "no more than an hour" at the start. It seemed to go quite well, the assessor was quite polite and at times even helpful by say for eg. prompting me to topics, and even suggesting a specialist for a specific problem that I have. So it is just a waiting game now, and also keeping my fingers crossed. poppy12345: and without any prompt she said it "should" be backdated, but like your advice this is unfortunately very unlikely so it is somewhat frustrating that they keep on stating this.

Spoonie_Turtle

RobinHill said:

Well I finally had the telephone assessment this morning, some 6 months after applying. Haven't been sleeping too well of late due to recent surgery and together with worry I guess felt a bit ill beforehand, but picked up during the call. It took 1 and 3/4 hours which I guess was quite lengthy, this was despite them saying "no more than an hour" at the start. It seemed to go quite well, the assessor was quite polite and at times even helpful by say for eg. prompting me to topics, and even suggesting a specialist for a specific problem that I have. So it is just a waiting game now, and also keeping my fingers crossed. poppy12345: and without any prompt she said it "should" be backdated, but like your advice this is unfortunately very unlikely so it is somewhat frustrating that they keep on stating this.

Glad they got to you at long last!

That's unfortunate, they are probably so used to new claims at the moment that she said it out of habit.  However the fact she's indicated there should be any money to backdate sounds positive in terms of PIP being awarded.  I'm sure you know but just a reminder you can request a copy of the report once DWP have received it, to see what the decision is likely to be.

RobinHill

Spoonie_Turtle: Yes that's what we thought ie. all new PIP claims ATM and no / very few DLA to PIP transfers, so perhaps just in "auto" mode. Hoping a miracle / c#ckup etc and a back payment after all, would be great after all this waiting :-) Obviously reserve judgement until we get to read the report but TBF to DWP PIP she was quite professional at what she did. I am not easy to engage with especially on the telephone due to a mix of severe hearing loss and autism, but she was very courteous and polite. 

poppy12345

RobinHill said:

 poppy12345: and without any prompt she said it "should" be backdated, but like your advice this is unfortunately very unlikely so it is somewhat frustrating that they keep on stating this.

This is exactly why the HCP is not supposed to say anything like this because it's not their job to do that. She most likely didn't know that you are currently claiming DLA, even if it was mentioned in your PIP form, they don't usually get to see that form until the assessment time. Its a bit like saying "you should have a decision in about 8 weeks" they say the same thing to alot of people.

Anyway, glad that part is over for you. Good luck and i hope you have a decision that's right for you.

RobinHill

poppy12345: I agree, I wouldn't have thought that it is her position to make such statements, that is down to DWP PIP admin. policy, not her area really. Though she did say that she was aware of me currently being on DLA and that I had made the call to "jump" to PIP. On being asked she also stated that the amount of documentation supplied was fine as it is important to fully explain all of my conditions and how they affect me. Hopefully once we manage to get a look at the report in a couple of weeks time then we will have some idea of what the award is likely to be.