Many people claiming Personal Independence Payments (PIP) could be owed thousands of pounds due to a recent rule change.
PIP can help with extra living costs if you have a long term physical or mental health condition or disability and difficulty doing certain everyday tasks or getting around because of your condition. It is paid by the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP).
There has been a recent change to the Daily Living component assessment rules around the definition of "social support". This means that thousands of people could be owed cash from as far back as April 2016.
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The DWP is urging around 284,000 existing claimants to contact them, if they think they may have been affected. It comes after the Supreme Court handed down a judgment following an Upper Tribunal decision, known as the "MM" judgment, in July 2019, the DailyRecord reports.
Who may be affected by the assessment rule change?
The MM judgment can only affect a claimant’s assessment for the Daily Living part of the PIP assessment. The DWP is reviewing cases where additional points for Activity 9 (‘prompting’ or ‘social support’) may make a material difference to the amount of PIP claimants’ are entitled to.
People who may have missed out on the Daily Living component element of PIP, or were awarded the standard rate and may be entitled to the enhanced rate include:
- People who have regular meetings with a mental health professional, without which they would not be able to manage face to face encounters.
- People who need the input of particular friends or relatives with experience of supporting them in social situations – rather than just any well-meaning friend or relative – to help them manage face to face encounters.
The DWP is not reviewing claims if:
- the enhanced rate of the daily living part of PIP has been awarded continuously since April 6, 2016
- a Tribunal made a decision on a claim since April 6, 2016
- a decision not to award PIP was made before April 6, 2016
How to claim
Claimants who wish to dispute a decision on the review of their PIP claim under the MM judgment can ask DWP to reconsider the decision – this is called a Mandatory Reconsideration (MR) and must be completed before an appeal is made and lodged with His Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS). Full details about challenging your PIP (and other benefit) decisions can be found on GOV.UK here.
Former Minister for Disabled People, Health and Work, Tom Pursglove MP said: "We are committed to making backdated payments to all claimants affected by this judgment as quickly as possible. So, as well as continuing to review claims affected by the definition of ‘social support’, we are also testing a more proportionate approach for claimants who might be affected by the timing element only.
"We will be inviting around 284,000 claimants in this group to contact the department, if they think their claim is affected by this judgment and they were not previously identified as needing help to engage with other people face to face because any help they received was in advance."
He added: "I believe that prioritising cases where claimants are more likely to be entitled to more support is the correct approach."
The new report shows at the end of August 2023, the DWP has reviewed around 79,000 cases against the MM judgment. This includes cases where claimants have previously been assessed as needing ‘prompting’.
Some 14,000 arrears payments, totalling around £74 million have been made. It's important to be aware how much someone receives may be higher or lower for each individual case, but on average, that works out at around £5,285 per PIP claim.
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