New PIP review your award form received July 2025

what2do...

Hi all

My daughter, aged 30, has a severe/profound hearing loss in both ears since birth and wears 2 hearing aids. She was awarded 8 points on communicating verbally and her award was ongoing (10 years) standard rate PIP. She has just received a review award form, 12 pages. From what I've read claimants are being advised by some not to just tick the no change box but give full information. In her case, Question 17, has there been any changes in your disability since last award, she is still deaf, this will never improve. We are trying to get an appointment at NHS Audiology as she feels her hearing could have deteriorated slightly. Also, for daily living needs, there was an Upper Tribunal Judgement  in 2020/2021 as follows,

In KT and SH v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions [2020] UKUT 252 (AAC), the Upper Tribunal held that, in the case of a person who has to remove their hearing aids or cochlear implants while washing  and consequently cannot hear a typical alarm, the risk of a fire occurring is a “real possibility that cannot be ignored … having regard to the nature and gravity of the feared harm”.

As a result, the Upper Tribunal awarded both claimants bringing the appeal two points under PIP daily living activity descriptor 4(b):

 “Needs supervision or prompting to be able to wash or bathe.”

Although her payment would stay the same, it was not taken into consideration on the form from 10 years ago.

Our worry now is by not ticking 'no change' and adding these 2 explanations in would it then be looked at that she would need to complete the full PIP form for the 10 Daily Living and 2 Mobility activities?

Sorry this seems a bit long winded but wanted to explain as best I could. Many thanks.

beckstar1975

A friend at uni was profoundly deaf and hard a vibrating mattress and flashing lights in her room and the bathroom connected to the alarm, do you not have these? I do not have hearing problems but could sleep through the alarm, no chance with these!

Sorry, doesn't answer your question but I would have thought these were adjustments that would have been made for her safety, regardless of entitlement to benefits

Spoonie_Turtle

She can tick 'no change' but it's advisable to fill in the sections explaining difficulties as if it were a new claim.  If what she wrote on the previous form worked and got her the appropriate award without much difficulty, write that again.  Though she can add in the bit about not hearing a fire alarm when washing/bathing too.  Also if there are times she can't wear her hearing aids for any other reason, she should include that explaining why, how often, and the impact that has on any of the activities.
She will probably need to attach extra sheets of paper if the space on the form is too small; make sure to put name and NI number on each extra sheet of paper.

It is a review of the whole claim so she should fill the form in in full like she did the first time.

If she can't get an audiology appointment on time before she has to return the form, she can always send copies of further evidence later to be added into her claim.  If nothing else, an up-to-date audiogram would be very simple proof that her hearing hasn't miraculously increased since the original PIP decision.