• Personal Independence Payment (PIP) is a new disability benefit
• Personal Independence Payment has replaced Disability Living
Allowance (DLA) for new claims from adults aged 16-64
• DLA remains for children up to age 16; and DLA recipients aged 65 or over on 8 April 2013 (day that PIP was introduced)
• PIP helps towards some of extra costs arising from health condition or disability
• PIP based on how person’s condition affects them, not condition itself
• Same way as DLA, claimants can get PIP whether in or out of work
• Not means tested or taxed
PIP Toolkit - Quick Guide
2 Department for Work & Pensions

Similarities
• Extra-costs cash benefit
• Not means-tested or taxable
• Two components
• Payable both in and out of work
• Maintains links to passported benefits where possible
• Special rules for terminally ill people
Differences
• three month qualifying period and nine month prospective test
• New assessment criteria
• Individual assessment and face-to-face consultation
• Planned interventions
• Reconsiderations process
PIP Toolkit – Differences and Similarities
3 Department for Work & Pensions

• PIP will be made up of two components – daily living and mobility
• Each can be paid at standard rate, or enhanced rate for those with the greatest needs
• The PIP assessment criteria will consider the individuals’ ability to carry out a range of everyday activities
• Individuals will receive a point score for each activity, depending on how well they can carry them out and the help they need to do them
• The total scores for each component determine whether a component is payable, and if so, whether at the standard or enhanced rate
Daily
Living
Enhanced
Standard
Not Entitled
Mobility
Enhanced
Standard
Not Entitled
12 points
8 points
PIP Toolkit – Conditions of Entitlement
Department for Work & Pensions 4

Daily living component (activities 1-10) Mobility component (activities 11-12)
Standard rate = 8 points
Enhanced rate = 12 points
Activity
Standard rate = 8 points
Enhanced rate = 12 points
Activity
1. Preparing food
2. Taking nutrition
3. Managing therapy or monitoring a health condition
4. Washing and bathing
Possible points
0-8
0-10
0-8
11. Planning and following journeys
12. Moving around
Possible points
0-12
0-12
0-8
5. Managing toilet needs or incontinence
6. Dressing and undressing
7. Communicating verbally
8. Reading and understanding signs, symbols and words
9. Engaging with other people face-toface
10. Making budgeting decisions
0-8
0-8
0-12
0-8
0-8
0-6
PIP Toolkit – Assessment Criteria
Department for Work & Pensions 5

• The PIP assessment will involve health professionals who consider the evidence provided by the claimant, along with any further evidence they think is needed
• The health professionals will be employed by independent providers
• People will be assessed as individuals, and the focus is on the impact their condition has on their daily lives and over a range of different activities
Department for Work & Pensions
PIP Toolkit – Assessment Process and Providers
6

• Most people will be asked to a face-to-face consultation with a health professional as part of the assessment process - claimants will be encouraged to take somebody with them to the consultation
• Home visits will be available when necessary
• Face-to-face consultations may not be necessary for everyone – for example, those who are terminally ill may not have to have them
• The assessment provider will send a report back to the DWP
Decision Maker to make a decision
Department for Work & Pensions
PIP Toolkit – Assessment Process and Providers
7

PIP Toolkit – Assessment Process and Providers
Department for Work & Pensions 8

From 28 October, natural reassessment started in Wales,
West Midlands, East Midlands and East Anglia for
• those with fixed period DLA awards coming up for renewal
• children who turn 16 years old on or after 7 October
2013 (unless they have been awarded DLA under the
Special Rules for terminal illness)
• those where there is a report of a change in the DLA claimant’s health condition or disability
• existing DLA claimants aged 16-64 who wish to make a
PIP claim.
•
From 13 January 2014, reassessment areas extend to postcodes beginning: DG, EH, TD and ML in southern
Scotland and parts of the borders.
• From 3 February, areas further extend to include postcodes beginning: CA, DL, HG, LA and YO in the north of England.
PIP Toolkit – Reassessing existing DLA claimants
PIP Toolkit – Postcode Map
Department for Work & Pensions 9

Further decisions on extending natural reassessment will be taken and communicated to the rest of the country in due course and will be informed by the experience of introducing reassessment in a gradual way first.
• From October 2015
– DWP begin to invite remaining DLA claimants to claim PIP who were aged between 16 and 64 on the day that PIP was introduced (8 April
2013
• Once selected for reassessment, claimants will be asked to claim PIP
– If they do, then their DLA award will normally continue until a decision on the PIP claim is made
– If they don’t claim PIP then their DLA claim will end
PIP Toolkit – Reassessing existing DLA claimants
PIP Toolkit – PIP checker
Department for Work & Pensions 10

Department for Work & Pensions
PIP Toolkit – Postcode Map
11

1 Thinking about claiming
Information about PIP will be available from a range of sources, including online, via leaflets and through support organisations.
Existing DLA claimants will be contacted individually to ask if they want to claim PIP.
2 Making a claim
Claimants (or those supporting them) phone DWP to make a claim to PIP. Paper claims won’t normally be used, and online claims will not be available before 2014.
DWP will send claimants a form where they can explain how their disability affects them.
3 How your disability affects you
Claimant completes the ‘How your disability affects you’ form to explain how their condition affects their daily life, both on good and bad days and over a range of activities.
Supporting evidence can be sent with this form, which they return to DWP by post.
4 Assessment
Claim details, form and supporting evidence are passed to the health professional.
Most people will be asked to attend a face to face consultation The health professional reviews the claim against a set of clear descriptors to assess the challenges faced by the individual.
5 Decision
A DWP Decision Maker will use all the information in the claim form, from the health professional and anything else that has been provided. They will make a reasoned decision on entitlement, including the level and length of award.
PIP Toolkit – Claimant Journey
Department for Work & Pensions 12

 Claimant’s personal and contact details
 Residency and presence details
 Relevant periods spent in hospital or residential care
 Payment (bank account) details
PIP Toolkit – How to claim
13 Department for Work & Pensions

• New claims line: 0800 917 2222
(textphone: 0800 917 7777)
• PIP enquiries: 0845 850 3322
(textphone: 0845 601 6677).
• Claimants sent ‘How your disability affects you’ form – return with supporting evidence already held
PIP Toolkit – How to claim
14 Department for Work & Pensions

 Explains how condition affects claimants in own words
 Include affect on ‘good and bad’ days
Department for Work & Pensions
PIP Toolkit – Completing the form
15

 Family member or support organisation can help
 Additional evidence already available to help support the claim returned included
PIP Toolkit – Completing the form
16 Department for Work & Pensions

• Assessment considers effect of health condition or disability on daily life
• Information considered by Assessment
Provider
• They may request further evidence from a relevant health professional or someone who supports claimant
Department for Work & Pensions
PIP Toolkit – Assessment process and providers
17

Assessment Provider may arrange face-toface consultation with claimant who:
– can ask questions about the consultation or rearrange appointment
– explains how condition affects them on a day to day basis
– is able to provide additional evidence
Department for Work & Pensions
PIP Toolkit – Assessment process and providers
18

• DWP calls claimant to explain for decisions not to award PIP
• DWP tell claimants how and when to report change in circumstances
Department for Work & Pensions
PIP Toolkit – Decision and Payment
19

• The length of award for PIP will be based upon each claimant’s individual circumstances
• DWP regularly reviews awards
• When awards ends, claimant can make new claim
• DWP contact claimants with longer awards occasionally to see if needs have changed
PIP Toolkit – Decisions and Payment
20 Department for Work & Pensions

• Claims for those who are found to meet the special rules for terminal illness criteria
– will be dealt with more quickly than normal claims
– are guaranteed an award of the enhanced rate of the daily living component of PIP without having to wait until they satisfy the qualifying period or prospective test
– both the daily living component and, providing the conditions are met, the mobility component will be paid straight away
• The claimant will not be sent the form ‘How your disability affects you’
– they will be asked some extra questions whilst they are on the phone about their condition and how it affects their ability to get around
PIP Toolkit – Special rules
Department for Work & Pensions 21

 Special rules claims line: 0800 917 2222
(text phone 0800 917 7777)
 DS1500 report needed to support claim
 Both the Daily Living and, providing conditions met, the Mobility component paid straight away
 Don’t have to complete the ‘How your disability affects you’ form
 Don’t need a face-to-face consultation
PIP Toolkit – Special rules
22 Department for Work & Pensions

• Children can continue to claim DLA until they are 16
• These changes do not affect children in receipt of Disability Living
Allowance
• They'll continue to receive it until they reach 16 when they become eligible for Personal Independence Payment.
• DWP will write to children who turn 16 years old on or after 7 October 2013
(unless they have been awarded DLA under the Special Rules for terminal illness), to invite them to claim PIP
• Existing DLA SRTI claimants, including young people reaching 16, will only be invited to claim PIP when their DLA award expires.
• There are no plans to extend PIP to new or existing claims for children
Department for Work & Pensions 23

• Many DLA claimants are receiving other benefits, such as ESA
– Most DLA claimants receiving Incapacity Benefit will have already been reassessed for Employment and Support Allowance by the time they need to make a claim to PIP
– Households where someone is in receipt of DLA/PIP are exempt from the new Benefit Cap
Department for Work & Pensions
PIP Toolkit – Access to other benefits and services
24

• Most existing passporting arrangements have been maintained for
PIP
– receipt of the Daily Living component (either rate) means that their carer may be entitled to Carer’s Allowance
– Motability scheme will work with PIP in the same way as it does with DLA
• Changes in entitlement may affect other benefits or support that the claimant or carer receives
Department for Work & Pensions
PIP Toolkit – Access to other benefits and services
25

• If a claimant gets the enhanced rate of the mobility part of
Personal Independence Payment, they may be able to use all or part of their allowance to lease a car, scooter or powered wheelchair from the Motability scheme
• If a claimant gets the mobility part of Personal Independence
Payment they might be able to claim for a Blue Badge
• They may also be able to claim a pass to travel for free on public transport
• If the claimant gets the enhanced rate of the mobility part of
Personal Independence Payment they won’t have to pay car tax
• If the claimant gets the standard rate of the mobility part of
Personal Independence Payment they will only have to pay half the price of a car tax disc
Department for Work & Pensions
PIP Toolkit – Access to other benefits and services
26

• PIP Daily Living component will stop being paid after total
28 days in a care home
• Mobility component payment not affected when claimant is in care home
• Both components of PIP will stop 28 days after claimant admitted to NHS hospitals
Department for Work & Pensions 27

• If someone is awarded PIP we will tell them how long the award is for
• We will write to them to tell them how and when they need to tell us about any change in circumstances
• Claimants will have their award regularly reviewed
• When someone’s award comes to an end, they can decide to make a further claim to PIP, if they still have needs arising from their health condition or disability
• If someone is given a longer award we will contact them occasionally to see if their needs have changed over time
PIP Toolkit – Disputes
28 Department for Work & Pensions

• The change to the appeals process for DWP consists of the following key elements
– mandatory reconsideration of decisions prior to appeal
– direct lodgement of appeals with HMCTS
– time limits for DWP to return appeal responses to HMCTS.
• DWP will introduce mandatory reconsideration and direct lodgement for PIP from April 2013
PIP Toolkit – Disputes
29 Department for Work & Pensions

• Information for support organisations and advisers is online at www.gov.uk/pip/toolkit . The site includes a quick guide to PIP for advisers, an overview of the claimant journey and frequently asked questions
• We’ll also include the latest news in the monthly Touchbase bulletin – sign up at the DWP website
• Information aimed at claimants is available on www.gov.uk
. Please signpost to these pages from your own sites or materials
• Updated leaflets are also available – generic information in existing leaflets, and PIP specific leaflet
• Talk to your local DWP Partner Manager
Department for Work & Pensions 30

Core Products
• Introduction to PIP Toolkit
• Quick Guides
• PIP Timeline
•
Claimant Journey
•
External PIP white brand presentation and speaker notes
• Sample forms and notifications
• Leaflets
•
PIP Communications Products and Timeline
•
Sample Assessment Provider notifications
Fact sheets
• Conditions of Entitlement
• Assessment Criteria
• The difference between PIP and DLA
• Reassessing existing DLA claimants for PIP (from
Oct 2013)
•
How to Claim PIP
• Completing the How your disability affects you form
• Assessment Process
•
Decision and Payment
•
Reviewing Awards
•
Special Rules for Terminally Ill People
•
Young People approaching age 16
•
People approaching age 65 and over
•
Passporting to other benefits
• Vulnerable Claimants (includes signposting)
• Disputes Process
• Changes of Circumstances
Department for Work & Pensions 31