Early Warning System eBulletin - November 2022
This month, we have heard a lot about personal independence payment.
Read more about what advisers are saying and what CPAG is doing below.
Call for evidence in November
We want to hear about anyone who has had a letter telling them that their legacy benefit is stopping and that they need to claim UC. Tell us about your cases by completing an online form or emailing the Early Warning System. And read CPAG's latest blog about managed migration.
PIP delays
While delays are unfortunately nothing new, there have been recent developments in how DWP deals with them.
New or renewal claim
Average wait for a decision: 18 weeks on new PIP claims as of July 2022
Target/limit: "We [the DWP] do not have an overall target for the PIP journey time."
Managing delays: CPAG's Judicial Review Project has produced a pre-action letter template (JR102) you can use when a PIP decision is taking an unreasonably long time. Although it's specifically about cases where means-tested benefit entitlement is affected by the PIP delay, it may be adapted to other situations. Please get in touch with the JR Project for help adapting and using the template.
Mandatory reconsideration
Average wait for a decision: 57 calendar days for a PIP MR as of 31 October 2022
Target/limit: "There are no set [or target] clearance times for Mandatory Reconsiderations."
Managing delays: This 57 day figure describes how long an MR takes from the date it is 'registered' by the DWP. It's been highlighted to the Early Warning System that MR requests are not always registered until they are chased up by claimants or their adviser, leading to much longer waits for a decision.
One way to try to avoid delays is to call the PIP helpline a couple of weeks after posting any MR request, to ensure it has been registered. Of course, this can be easier said than done because of substantial waiting times on the helpline.
Award review
The DWP has acknowledged significant delays with award reviews.
It will now automatically extend somebody's PIP award by up to 12 months if it is due to end and a decision has not yet been made on an award review.
Although PIP continues in payment, there can be other issues, as Early Warning System contributors have highlighted. For example, if your client is not sent written evidence by the DWP about the extension to their award, they can struggle to prove their PIP entitlement for the purposes of council tax reduction, a blue badge, and other passported entitlements.
The DWP has said in an email to stakeholders that letters proving PIP entitlement are now being sent out to affected claimants (as of 31 October). It appears that claimants who don't get a letter, and whose awards were extended before 31 October, 'can contact the helpline 0800 1214433 and we [the DWP] will issue a statement'.
If you have a PIP question, including one about delays or re-assessment, you can contact CPAG's advice line. See also our PIP topic page for articles, factsheets and tools for PIP cases.
The questions asked on the digital PIP2 form
One adviser contacted us this month with a concern about the e-PIP2 (the online version of the How your disability affects you form, see our article on the e-PIP2).
After lodging a PIP appeal, the adviser and their client had received an appeal bundle with a print-out of the e-PIP2 that looked very different to the normal paper form. It didn't contain the usual questions about each of the 12 activities. Instead it contained abbreviated versions (eg, for activity 1 it simply said: Does your condition affect you preparing food, or ever prevent you from doing so? before showing the claimant's answer).
The adviser was understandably concerned that the client might have completed a new version of the e-PIP2 with over-simplified, vague questions.
The DWP confirmed that this was not the case. The paper and online versions of the PIP2 form are still identical. CPAG was told that 'this is how the PDF prints out (...) the content in the PDF is cut down so that it wouldn’t take up pages just with the question'. We were also told that 'providing a PDF with all the question content is something being considered at present'.
But note that the DWP has told stakeholders it does have plans to re-write the questions in the PIP2 – both on paper and online.
The health and disability white paper
In 2021, the DWP published Shaping Future Support: The Health and Disability Green Paper.
It asked what support should be available for people claiming benefits with a health condition or disability, how they should be assessed, and whether changes to benefit rules (including for PIP) were necessary.
After a consultation period that ended in October 2021, the DWP promised to publish a white paper by the end of 2022 setting out its plans for the future of PIP and other benefits. This is likely to include:
- the DWP's decision on whether to make changes to the PIP descriptors.
- feedback on the testing of a new severe disability group (SDG) for some PIP, ESA and UC claimants.
- information on a potential new advocacy service for people claiming health- and disability-related benefits like PIP. Chloe Smith MP has compared this potential service to the existing Help to Claim service for UC.
There is no confirmed publication date for the white paper. Some of the most recent comments on what it might contain came from the then Minister for Disabled People, Health and Work in July 2022.
Do you have something to tell us?
Hearing about your cases has a profound impact on our work.
Some of the topics we are looking out for include:
- Deductions from UC – How much are your clients living on, after deductions for advances, overpayments, and third party debt?
- The benefit cap – We need real case studies showing its impact on families.
- 'Reasonable adjustments' not being made – Anything from a client struggling with their online UC account, to a phone appointment being refused, to inappropriate work-related requirements.
Submit a case online or email the Early Warning System to tell us more. We can also be reached by phone on 0207 812 5226.
If you know an individual who would like to contact us directly about their own case, please let them know about our contact form for non-advisers.
Do you need CPAG's advice?
Advice by telephone
020 7812 5231 Monday to Friday, 10am-12 and 2pm-4pm