An Introduction to Personal
Independence Payment
Welfare Reform: Changes in the Year Ahead Workshop
29th November 2012
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Department for Work and Pensions
A new benefit for disabled people is being introduced
• Personal Independence Payment (PIP) will replace Disability Living
Allowance (DLA) for eligible working age claimants from 8 April 2013
• Disability Living Allowance has been in place for almost 20 years largely
unchanged
• DLA does not have some of the checks that are a key part of other state
benefits and it needs to be brought up to date.
• DLA can sometimes focus more on an individual’s condition rather than the
needs that actually arise
• The overall cost of DLA has risen by a third over the last nine years and the
number of people claiming DLA has also continued to increase
• More than 5000 individuals (including DWP staff) and 500 organisations
gave their views about DLA reform back in 2011
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Department for Work and Pensions
What’s new?
•
PIP will help towards some of the extra costs arising from ill health or
disability. It is based on how a claimant’s condition affects them not on what
condition they have
•
It will include an assessment of individual needs carried out by trained
health professionals. Most people will be asked to attend a face-to-face
consultation.
•
To make a new claim, individuals must have needed help for at least 3
months and be likely to need it for at least another 9 months
•
Most awards will be for a fixed period and will be reviewed to ensure that
claimants continue to receive the right support
•
Claims will be started over the phone, and eventually be available online too
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Department for Work and Pensions
What’s not changing?
•
Decisions on eligibility will still be made by DWP decision makers
•
Children will continue to claim DLA until they are 16 - they’ll need to decide
whether to claim PIP when they reach 16
•
DLA will remain for people aged 65 and over
•
People receiving Attendance Allowance will not be affected by the
introduction of PIP
•
PIP is non means tested, non taxable, and is payable both in and out of
work
•
Special rules will remain to support claimants who are terminally ill
•
PIP will still act as a passport to other benefits or services
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Department for Work and Pensions
New Claims start in April 2013
April
2013
June
New claims to PIP will be taken including from people living
in Cheshire, Cumbria, Merseyside, North East England and
North West England
New claims national rollout
2013
5
Department for Work and Pensions
Reassessment starts in October 2013
•
October
2013
to
Spring
•
•
2016
•
•
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Reassessment of existing DLA claimants between 16 and 64
years old will start in October 2013
If an existing DLA claimant reports a change in their condition
after October 2013 then they will be asked to claim PIP instead
If an existing DLA claimant reaches the review date of their DLA
award then they will be asked to claim PIP (unless they’ve
already received an invitation to renew their DLA claim)
All other claimants, including those receiving lifetime or indefinite
awards will be contacted before March 2016. We’ll randomly
select claimants for reassessment during this time
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
Department for Work and Pensions
The new assessment
• The PIP assessment will involve health professionals who consider the evidence
provided by the claimant, along with any further medical evidence they think is
needed
• It assesses disabled people as individuals, and focuses on the impact their
condition has on their daily lives and over a range of different activities
• Most people will be asked to a face-to-face consultation with a health
professional as part of the claim process. Claimants can 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 may not have to have them
• The assessment provider will send a report back to the DWP decision maker
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Department for Work and Pensions
Components and Eligibility
•
•
•
•
•
•
8
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
Each activity carries a possible eight to fifteen
points for those with the most restricted abilities
The total scores for each component suggest
whether a component is payable, and if so,
whether at the standard or enhanced rate
Daily
Living
Mobility
Enhanced
Enhanced
12 points
Standard
Standard
8 points
Not Entitled
Not Entitled
Department for Work and Pensions
Assessment Criteria
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Daily Living Components (activities 1-9)
Mobility Components (activities 10-11)
Standard rate = 8 points
Enhanced rate = 12 points
Standard rate = 8 points
Enhanced rate = 12 points
Activity
Standard
Activity
Standard
1.
Preparing food and drink
0-8
10.
Planning and following a journey
0 – 15
2.
Taking nutrition
0 -10
11.
Moving around
0 - 15
3.
Managing therapy and monitoring a
health condition
0–8
4.
Bathing and grooming
0–8
5.
Managing toilet needs or incontinence
0–8
6.
Dressing or undressing
0 – 12
7.
Communicating
0 – 12
8.
Engaging socially
0–8
9.
Making financial decisions
0-6
Please note that these draft
criteria are subject to change
following consultation – the final
draft will be published this
Autumn
Department for Work and Pensions
There are five key stages to claiming PIP
1
Thinking
about
claiming
• Information about PIP available through different sources – leaflets,
online, our Helpline and from support organisations
• These will explain eligibility criteria and help the claimant decide if they
want to claim
• We’re writing to all existing DLA claimants in their March uprating letter to
provide some general information about PIP
• Existing DLA claimants will be contacted individually at the appropriate
time to ask if they want to claim PIP
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Department for Work and Pensions
There are five key stages to claiming PIP
2
Making a
claim
• Claimants (or those supporting them) call DWP on a new claim number
• We’ll check their identity and ask some basic questions
• A personalised ‘Telling your story’ form will then be posted to the claimant
• Paper claims won’t normally be used, and online claims will be available
from Spring 2014
• Additional support like alternative formats or home visits will be available if
needed
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Department for Work and Pensions
There are five key stages to claiming PIP
3
Telling your
story
• Claimant (or someone supporting them) completes the form
• They explain, in their own words, how their condition affects them and
their daily life
• It asks about a range of activities and on both ‘good and bad’ days
• Supporting evidence can be sent back with this form
• The bar-coded personalised form is returned in a freepost envelope
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Department for Work and Pensions
There are five key stages to claiming PIP
4
Assessment
• The claim details, the ‘telling your story’ form and any supporting evidence
is passed to the health professional for review
• Most people will be asked to have a face-to-face consultation with the
health professional, providing the opportunity to explore their
circumstances in detail
• The health professional reviews the claim against the clear descriptors to
assess the challenges faced by the individual
• A report from the health professional is returned to DWP
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Department for Work and Pensions
There are five key stages to claiming PIP
5
Decision
• DWP decision maker uses all the evidence to make a decision – the report
from the health professional, information from the form and anything else
which has been provided
• They make a decision on entitlement to PIP, including the level and length of
award
• If PIP hasn’t been awarded or there has been a reduction, then the decision
maker will usually try to phone the claimant to explain their decision
• If an existing DLA claimant being reassessed isn’t found to be entitled to PIP
then their DLA would stop
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Department for Work and Pensions
Other benefits
•
•
•
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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 for PIP
–
Claimants receiving DLA or PIP won’t be migrated to Universal Credit until later in the UC
rollout
–
Households where someone is in receipt of DLA/PIP are exempt from the new Benefit Cap
Intend to maintain existing passporting arrangements where possible, but still being agreed
–
receipt of the Daily Living component (at standard or enhanced rate) will passport the carer to
receive Carers Allowance. Under DLA, this requires receipt of the middle or higher rates for
personal care
–
Blue Badge scheme – Department of Transport are currently consulting as to future
arrangements
Changes in entitlement may affect other benefits or support that the claimant or carer receives
Department for Work and Pensions
More information
• Information for support organisations and advisers is online at www.gov.uk/pip.
The site includes a quick guide to PIP for advisers 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 at www.gov.uk/pip. Please signpost to
these pages from your own sites or materials.
• Updated leaflets will be available too – generic information in existing leaflets
from the Autumn, and PIP specific leaflet from early next year.
• Talk to your local DWP Partner Manager
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Department for Work and Pensions