How long does a new application for PIP generally take to process?

Anakah6

My wife, who was recently diagnosed with arthritis, submitted her application in December and we still haven't heard either way.

Spoonie_Turtle

Most people are contacted to have an assessment; it can be weeks or months before that happens.

Paper-based assessments (where they don't make an appointment to see/talk to the claimant in-depth) do sometimes happen but are rare.  Again, it can take months to hear about that as well.

Anakah6

Spoonie_Turtle said:

Most people are contacted to have an assessment; it can be weeks or months before that happens.

Paper-based assessments (where they don't make an appointment to see/talk to the claimant in-depth) do sometimes happen but are rare.  Again, it can take months to hear about that as well.

Thanks. Will they let us know either way? I.e. if she doesn't qualify will we be made aware that the claim isn't going any further?

Spoonie_Turtle

Anakah6 said:

Spoonie_Turtle said:

Most people are contacted to have an assessment; it can be weeks or months before that happens.

Paper-based assessments (where they don't make an appointment to see/talk to the claimant in-depth) do sometimes happen but are rare.  Again, it can take months to hear about that as well.

Thanks. Will they let us know either way? I.e. if she doesn't qualify will we be made aware that the claim isn't going any further?

Yes, they have to notify you of their decision even if it's to disallow the classroom for some reason.  It is highly unlikely they would refuse an award without a face-to-face (or telephone) assessment though.

Have you/your wife read up on the descriptors and how it's all assessed?  It is not uncommon for people to be given no award at first even if they really qualify for the highest rates.  Ideally you need to know what descriptors your wife should score so that you know whether to challenge the decision whenever it's made (unless she's awarded enhanced for both components, in which case there is no higher award she could be given), whether that's through understanding it yourselves or based on accredited advice e.g. from the CAB.

Some links for reading if you don't already know how it's assessed:

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/benefits/sick-or-disabled-people-and-carers/pip/help-with-your-claim/how-decisions-are-made/  - a good overview, and be sure to read the PDFs linked

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/benefits/sick-or-disabled-people-and-carers/pip/help-with-your-claim/fill-in-form-pip/  - in case there are things you/she maybe didn't think about when filling in the form, and want to bring up in the assessment

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/personal-independence-payment-assessment-guide-for-assessment-providers/pip-assessment-guide-part-2-the-assessment-criteria  - a long read but a fairly thorough explanation of all the aspects

poppy12345

There's huge backlogs at the moment and the estimated timescale from applying to having a decision is about 10 months. If you have a decision sooner than this then you're lucky.

An assessment should be expected because most people have them.

Chiyo

It completely depends on which area you’re in. You can actually phone the disability assessment centres and ask if they have any cancellations that you could take, that works quite well for some people.