DLA - change in circumstances procedure

Kat

Welcome to the forum, you might want to have a look at the following FAQ which explain where everything is

Welcome to Benefits and Work

I am surprised that the DWP have offered you a choice in the matter, that is not their normal procedure and it may be that will now continue with the process whatever you say.

If they are indeed leaving the choice to you then only you can make the decision on whether to continue or not. You are required to report an improvement in your condition, but you should consider factors such as whether the change is permanent or not and whether the change necessitates a Change of Circumstances, for example; if your walking distance has improved from 10m to 20 then it is reasonable to assume that you still meet the criteria for a Higher Rate award.

You should be aware that HRM and LRM are awarded for different reasons, so if you no longer meet the HRM criteria it is most likely that you will receive no mobility award at all, unless you also have problems with planning a route, going out and following a route.

The first issue you need to address is whether you are in an active PIP postcode (see the following), if you are then you will be invited to claim PIP and it will be a full review of your claim from scratch, the good news is that your DLA should not be suspended during the process.

www.gov.uk/government/publications/pip-p.../pip-postcode-map-uk

If you are not in a PIP area, then I would expect your DLA to be re-assessed and it is likely that payment will be suspended while this happens, it is possible that they will only ask you to complete the mobility section of the form, but this would be at the discretion of the DWP and it could again be a full review.

Our PIP guides are available on the following link

www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/help-for-claimants/pip

and our DLA ones

www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/help-for-claimants/dla/#dlaclaims

If you have any further questions then please reply to this post and we will do our best to help.

Gordon

Kat

If you are in an active PIP postcode, which a previous post suggests, then any reported Change of Circumstances will result in an invitation to claim PIP. Your DLA should remain in payment at the current rate until four weeks after a Decision on your PIP claim is made.

I don't think there is much point in your writing a detailed letter because if you are invited to claim PIP it will be basically ignored and you will still have to include the information on the PIP claim form, so I would write a basic letter explaining how your conditions have changed and go from there.

Gordon