PIP! Renewal, or New Claim?

Hi again everyone,

I have been receiving PIP, and before that DLA, for 7+ years, and I have been claiming ESA since July 2019. My ESA claim was assessed in October 2019 and, after a medical examination, I was placed in the support group due to my walking difficulties. My current PIP claim was given an end date, at tribunal, of 14th February 2020, and as a result I was invited to reapply for PIP in November 2019, which I did.

I submitted my renewal claim a couple of days after I received the form to do so, from the DWP. After doing this I heard nothing for several weeks, so I contacted the DWP to ensure they had received my completed claim form. When I contacted them (this was in early December 2019) I was told that my form had not been “scanned onto the system” yet, as they were dealing with a huge backlog of claims, and to call back again in a week or two for an update. When I called back a week or so later, I was told that my form had indeed now been scanned, and that it was now being processed. This was in the middle of December, approximately a month after I submitted this form.

Over Christmas, and New Year, I heard nothing from the DWP, about the progress of my claim, so in mid-January 2020 I called the DWP for an update. At this point they told me that my claim was now with the private medical provider, in this case Independent Assessment Services, and they would be contacting me soon to arrange an appointment for a medical examination. I waited again for this contact to happen.

Having not heard anything by the start of February 2020, and being aware that my current award ended on 14th February 2020, I contacted the DWP again to enquire as to the state of my claim, and what would happen with my current award if my claim hadn’t been dealt with before it expired. The gentleman I spoke to once again informed me that my claim was with Independent Assessment Services and it would hopefully be soon when I heard from them. He also clarified that, as I had submitted a new claim within the time limits, my current claim would be extended up to the point were a decision was made on my new claim.

A week after this phone call I received an appointment letter from Independent Assessment Services, inviting me to attend a medical examination, on Monday 24th February 2020. Due to my mobility problems I must arrange for someone to take me to these appointments, and thankfully someone was available, so I confirmed that I’d be able to attend on that date.

On Friday 21st February 2020 I received a text message from Independent Assessment Services asking me to contact them regarding my appointment, which I did. I was informed in this telephone call that unfortunately they had to cancel my appointment on Monday 24th February (no reason given), and we arranged an alternative appointment for Monday 9th March, 2020 after checking that I could get a lift to the appointment on that date.

Yesterday, 25th February 2020, is the day I would receive my 4 weekly PIP payment into my bank account, and I received that payment, but not in the amount expected, it is considerably less. When I noticed this, I have contacted the DWP to ask why my payment is less than normal, and they informed me that the lower payment is because they have only paid me to 13th February 2020 as that when my current claim has ended.

Now this is obviously confusing to me as, as I said above, I was told at the beginning of February by the DWP themselves, that my current award would be extended as I had applied for PIP again.

Unfortunately, it now appears that this information was incorrect. The lady I spoke to at the DWP yesterday morning did not understand why I was told that, and apologised, but she said that because this was a “new claim” it has no effect on my current award, and my current award was always going to end on 14th February 2020, regardless of what I did.

I asked for an explanation as to why this was a “new claim” when I have been in receipt of PIP, and before that DLA, for over 7 years, and was told it was something to do with the fact that my current award was made by Tribunal so it had an “end date”. When I pointed out that , every award I’ve had has had to go to Tribunal and has had an “end date”, and this has never happened before, she could not answer why this happened this time, she just assured me that “this is how it works” and there was nothing they could do about it.

As you can imagine this came as quite a shock to me, and has now left me in a position where not only have I received a little more than half of the money I expected to receive yesterday, but will also now receive no PIP payments going forward until my new claim is processed. This also has a knock-on effect of reducing the amount of ESA I receive as, because I am now no longer in receipt of the PIP care component, I am no longer eligible for the Severe Disability Premium that I receive as part of my ESA award.

So, because the DWP has a “huge backlog” and have taken over 3 months to get my claim to the point of getting an appointment for a medical examination, and for some unknown reason are treating this as a “new claim” I have now had my benefits reduced by almost £150 a week for however long it takes them to process this claim, which could be another 10-14 weeks and maybe longer.

Now I’m in this position I don’t know what to do. Every time I have had to deal with the DWP over the last 10 years, with regards to PIP, ESA or DLA, it has been a mess. Despite me clearly having long-term medical issues, the main one being an incurable, degenerative condition, I have had to go through the claim process, including several very poor-quality medical examinations, every 18-24 months, and sometimes even more frequently than that. And every one of these claims has had to go to at the very least the “Mandatory Reconsideration” phase, and most have required an appeal at Tribunal to be resolved.

For example, for this current PIP claim, this is the third time I have had to go through the renewal/claim process in 5 years, with both previous renewals having to go all the way to appeal, with both being upheld at appeal.

Anyway I've written to my MP about this and I'm waiting for a response, but thought I'd ask on here if anyone has any suggestions on how to proceed.

Mainly I'm confused by the following :

Is this "your decision was from a tribunal, so has an end date" reasoning that the DWP are using to stop my current award, and forcing this to be a "new claim" just nonsense? As I said above every claim I've ever made has gone to tribunal and this hasn't happened before. Why now?

Surely if they know they've got a "huge backlog" (their words, not mine) then they have a responsibility to make sure they "invite" claimants to re-apply in plenty of time to sort it, before their current award ends?

Have I got anywhere to go from here? as I said I've written to my MP, but if there's someone I can speak to, or some regulation I can quote to them, to try and get my award re-instated until this "new claim" is processed it would be helpful.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Thanks for the info BIS, unfortunately that was what I expected. Seems to me that they make a lot of these "rules" up on the fly.

Good news is that my MP's office has already been in touch with me (advantage of having a very high profile MP as your local I guess).

As my new medical appointment is in a week or so, they've advised I get that out of the way, and then request a copy of the report, and when I get it they'll give the appropriate people a prod to try and expedite the process.

Thanks again for the info.

Update.

After getting a copy of my medical report, on my MP's advice, I responded to the contents of the medical as soon as I could, rather than wait for a decision and ask for an MR, and it seems to have worked.

Got my decision letter and had both my standard rate daily living, and mobility awards re-instated. They also seem to have taken into account my plea for them to look at the length of any award.

I've been claiming DLA/PIP for 10 years now, and have been having to go through the renewal/claim process ever 18-24 months, despite my main condition being an incurable, degenerative condition that won't be getting any better.

I pointed this out, both on my claim form, and my response to the medical letter, and now this new award doesn't have an end date, it just states that "we will contact you while you're getting PIP to see if your needs have changed and to look into the amount you get. This will be after 8 March 2030"

I assume this means I've effectively got a 10 year award? or is this just a standard "not worth the paper its written on" thing and I can expect a review letter whenever they feel like it?

Thanks again to all the help from the guys on here over the last 10 years, hopefully I won't need any more advice for a while, and I can concentrate on other things than claims/reconsiderations/trials for a while at least.