Returning PIP form (Tittle changed)

VikkiH wrote: IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR ANYONE APPLYING FOR PIP from DLA:

After your initial claim over the telephone, you will be sent your PIP claim form for evidence. On the front of it will be a date for return that is one calendar month from the day the form was posted. For example, my husband called for my initial claim on January 17th, 2016. The form was processed for posting on January 19th and the return date was by February 19th, 2016.

BEWARE: we were informed by the helpline that this date does not allow for the received processing time at their end, which, depending on postal levels, can be anything from 2 to 10 days.

In order for your claim form to get there in time AND be processed as received, you need to send it off AT LEAST 10 days before the date given on the form.

My husband has just had a conversation with the PIP Existing Claims helpline explaining our postal problem (below) and although we have been given a 7 day extension, it doesn't help the fact that the form gives a false impression of the date you need to send it by.

Our situation has not been helped by the fact that Royal Mail have cocked up our Special Delivery by 1pm Next Day order. It was posted on Wednesday for arrival by 1pm yesterday and it still hasn't been delivered.

We were also informed that although the current target for undergoing the Medical Assessment is 16 weeks, the national average is still 23 weeks. Prepare for a bit of a wait for your oh-so-honest appraisal...

Hi VH,

I am afraid that the information that you gleaned is totally incorrect !!

The claimant must take all reasonable steps, (i.e.Posting the document in good time) to ensure that the PIP 2 Forms or any other documentation arrive back at the return address provided before close of business on the deadline date.

If the deadline date is a non-working day over the weekend then it would be by close of business on the next working-day !!

It is not up to the claimant to allow for tardiness in the DWP's internal mail systems, it is only up to the claimant to ensure that the documents are delivered to the address provided by close of business on the deadline date.

Even if the documents being returned went astray, as long as the claimant could show that they had taken all reasonable steps to ensure it was returned by the deadline, i.e. recorded, signed for delivery, etc that should be accepted as "Good Cause" for the document arriving late or not arriving at all !

Yes, we are aware that the 4 weeks return deadline runs from the date of the letter, but if the form has taken an excessively long time to arrive with the claimant, an extension should be allowed.

Basically, DWP cannot insist that you post your documents back 10 days early due to weaknesses in their internal systems !!

Sending Documents to the DWP, ATOS, Capita or Maximus.

You should never rely on information being correct that you receive from DWP Call Responders, their knowledge is limited and a lot of them are "numpties" who think that they know what they are talking about when they really don't !!!

I note that you have a few previous PIP related queries in different topics which I will now merge with this one.

You should Bookmark/Favourite this page in your Internet Browser now. That way you can return to this topic easily to pose any further queries that you may have by replying to the topic.

See : This Topic also !

Thanks in anticipation of your future co-operation in keeping all your PIP related queries to this topic !

bro58

Thank you for this. This was what we were told by the call centre staff! Almost verbatim.

Somehow I get the feeling that they are deliberately messing us around to try and deter us from applying. And as for the Royal Mail...don't get me started. Even our local post office checked and found the same information as us.

I'm glad that the call centre was wrong, but it does now leave me even more concerned about the level of misinformation that is being passed out. How are we meant to understand the guidelines if they are being deliberately vague or, even worse, we are being deliberately misinformed?

We all endure enough stress just trying to survive without the sharks in suits trying to make it more complicated...

VikkiH wrote: Thank you for this. This was what we were told by the call centre staff! Almost verbatim.

Somehow I get the feeling that they are deliberately messing us around to try and deter us from applying. And as for the Royal Mail...don't get me started. Even our local post office checked and found the same information as us.

I'm glad that the call centre was wrong, but it does now leave me even more concerned about the level of misinformation that is being passed out. How are we meant to understand the guidelines if they are being deliberately vague or, even worse, we are being deliberately misinformed?

We all endure enough stress just trying to survive without the sharks in suits trying to make it more complicated...

Hi VH,

"Say No More" DWP "numpties" !!!!!!

bro58