New rules for PIP Pensioners?

poppet17

With all the talk of benefit cuts my question is this - as a pensioner with a long term PIP award for low rate care, I was trying to find out about these changes and came across this paragraph -

In 2024-25, we are spending £26 billion on PIP and £17 billion on UC-health (referred to as UC-H from hereon). It is these two working-age benefits that are the subject of yesterday's Green Paper; disability and incapacity benefits directed at children and pensioners are unaffected.

 It is not quite clear to me if it includes PIP benefits for pensioners or is it just UC - so as a 70 year old will they take away the care side of my pip if my points are below 4 or does this not affect me?  Sorry I am not very good at deciphering some of these new rules.

Auti

I am not sure, and would also be interested to know, but I think they are saying the DLA that children get and Attendance Allowance that pensioners get are the ones that are not affected. 

Getting PIP as a pensioner means that it mush have first been claimed as a working age benefit so I am not sure what rules it will come under for a pensioner.

born_again

poppet17 said:

With all the talk of benefit cuts my question is this - as a pensioner with a long term PIP award for low rate care, I was trying to find out about these changes and came across this paragraph -

In 2024-25, we are spending £26 billion on PIP and £17 billion on UC-health (referred to as UC-H from hereon). It is these two working-age benefits that are the subject of yesterday's Green Paper; disability and incapacity benefits directed at children and pensioners are unaffected.

 It is not quite clear to me if it includes PIP benefits for pensioners or is it just UC - so as a 70 year old will they take away the care side of my pip if my points are below 4 or does this not affect me?  Sorry I am not very good at deciphering some of these new rules.

Guessing this was from here.

https://www.resolutionfoundation.org/publications/a-dangerous-road/#:~:text=In 2024-25, we are,children and pensioners are unaffected.


At the moment no one really knows anything, until things are fleshed out. So it is pointless worrying about what may happen, till the real information comes out in due course.

kabebz

Working age Is probably a clue 

Spoonie_Turtle

kabebz said:

Working age Is probably a clue 

Not necessarily, because PIP is classed as a working age benefit - i.e. the only people who can start to claim it are of working age. 
Currently all the PIP rules apply the same to pensioners (whose claims started before their pension age) - although that is apart from being able to increase the mobility element after pension age.  So conceivably they could put in an exception for pensioners not to need to score 4 points, but it's anyone's guess whether they would even consider it. 

In terms of cutting costs, pensioners losing eligibility for PIP would mean they're forced to claim AA for daily living financial support which doesn't come with a mobility component, which would mean the government paying less for many people.

So, we just don't know.