My son dla to pip transfer

Thanks gary!

I am pretty well clued up on autism, as my son was lucky to get plugged into support services as a child and i have had a fair amount of parent training via these support services.

So i have heard of 'high functioning autism' and Aspergers syndrome for example.

But, as far as i was aware, the latest classification manual has scrapped 'aspergers' as a diagnosis and just places everyone with a diagnosis of 'autistic spectrum condition'

I have never heard this term 'severe autism' before. And just wondered if it actually has a clear set of behaviours attributed to it.

It seems to me as if it is a made up DWP term! But i think i will check it with National Autistic Society.

Many thanks for all the help and support on this forum. It is so handy to know we arent alone on our pip journey

Thanks Gary - that is a really useful link. I knew they had re classified autism when DSM - 5 came out in 2013 but i didnt know about the 3 levels. Safe to say, my son does not have 'severe autism'

He does have a full report done pre DSM - 5 and it just states that he meets the criteria for ASD. He doesnt seem to fit neatly into any of the new 'levels' but he is definitely not level 3.

Many thanks for your help with this.


Think i will keep this thread updated with the progress of my son's pip application as i know it's helpful to me to find out how long others are waiting so hopefully our journey can help others.

So - currently he is on middle rate care and low rate mobility DLA. That was a 5 yr award which ends April 2020.

Invitation to apply for pip came December 19. I cant recall the date of my telephone call to apply for pip but the application form came very quickly.

I sent it back 8th january. 16th jan, i received a letter through the post to say i had not returned the form.

I called them and they confirmed it had been received and scanned onto their system 14th jan.

We havent heard anything else as yet.

An update to my thread: today i have received a very short letter from pip. It simply says "we have all the information we need to make a decision"

A few lines underneath say that they have all the info they need to decide IF they can award pip (the capitals are mine just to highlight the uncertainty)

It then simply says there is no need for me to contact them. They will write again when they have made a decision.



Do you think that sounds hopeful that my son will get an award? He has not been called for face to face.

I assume this letter means he will not be called for a face to face?

They wouldnt make no award without seeing him, will they?

Im not too worried if they award less (he is currently middle rate dla and low rate mobility)

Main thing is that he gets to keep his free bus pass. This is an absolute life line for him and allows him to attend his activities and also to board the bus without speaking to the driver or needing to handle cash. So it would be a massive loss to him.



Also - i had a real job finding this thread again! I clicked on my user name but it definitely did not bring up my previous posts.

I am reasonably forum savvy but havent got to grips with this forum yet. I use a tablet to access the forum. Is that why i am having problems?


Anyway - pls if anyone can let me know if this sounds hopeful, i would be grateful. Thank you

Hi I just wanted to ask advice on something that is on my mind and that i had hoped to clear up at my son's f2f interview. As the f2f isnt happening now, can i run this by you as i dont know whether to call DWP or if i will throw a spanner in the works by calling.

Its the question about needing help in familiar/unfamiliar places. My son definitely needs someone with him in an unknown place. There is no doubt there.

However for the familiar place one, i think i have misinterpreted the question. My son does need help getting TO a familiar place but not getting around that familiar place once he is in it.

I know that might sound a bit strange but if i tell you how he learns, it should make sense.

So, he focuses in on fine detail but is unable to see the big picture. When he goes somewhere he will learn one street well but he has no idea where that st is in relation to another. Then he will learn another st and he builds it up like that. It takes a very long time.

So long that he can only get around one place on his own. He has been going to our nearest town up to 5x each week, every week for 5 yrs now. It isnt huge but has a main shopping st and a single storey shopping centre, park, bus station etc. Typical town. He can get round the whole town now himself.

I did note that on the form so i suppose they would have called him in if they saw that as inconsistant with my ticking 'yes' to help in both familiar and unfamiliar places.

The reason i ticked yes to familiar places is that he cant get TO a familiar place. Like where we live is a large village (or small rural town maybe)

To give an example, if i took my son to the large park in town it would be familiar to him. But he couldnt get there himself at the moment as we have never practised a route there. Does that make sense?

If we did practise, then he would learn to do it himself. His learning method is slow but, actually once he has mastered something, he will be able to do it really well.

He will tend to stick to exactly the same routes but that does work for him.


He can recognise landmarks (in fact he is very good at this and that is a main way he remembers which way to go) what he is lacking is that overall picture thing of having an overall idea that most places have their shops, bus st, library etc in the centre and then spreading out to residential.

And then he hasnt got the language skills to sort out a problem if he went wrong.




To sum up once a place is very familiar and he has learned the routes in it, he CAN go round independently and confidently within that place. It just takes a long time to build up that map in his head.


Did i answer the question right or should it have been No for help with familiar places?


And should i call dwp to discuss or is that just going to mess his whole claim up. Im just worried in case he gets awarded enhanced mobility. I think he should only get standard.

At the moment he is low rate for dla on the mobility part and that does seem right. Of course it is complicated by other factors such as his lack of drive and task initiation. He is not curious to explore other places.

If he was driven to explore new places, he might well have a whole host of familiar routes banked in his brain by now!

It is really difficult to work out everything going on with him that stops him doing things. Not helped by the fact, when asked, he will often say 'well, because ive never done it before!'


Thanks for your thoughts on this.