Blind and moving from DLA to PIP

Hi. My husband is being moved from DLA onto PIP but the paperwork suggests to enclose any supporting evidence from professionals. Would this include the proof of being blind as this was given to DLA in the 1990s. And he has nothing else as being blind reveals his condition doesn't it or am I missing something.

Sonia wrote: Hi. My husband is being moved from DLA onto PIP but the paperwork suggests to enclose any supporting evidence from professionals. Would this include the proof of being blind as this was given to DLA in the 1990s. And he has nothing else as being blind reveals his condition doesn't it or am I missing something.

Hi Sonia

I am visually impaired and have been 'transferred' from DLA to PIP. When I sent in my PIP application form i sent a copy (do NOT send originals of any documents as you may never get them back!) of my registration card as sight impaired (partially sighted), this acts as confirmation that I am partially sighted as you can only register as partially sighted or blind after you've been ceritfied as such by a hospital eye specialist. So if your husband is registered with a local authority (council) as blind he should have, or be able to obtain, a registration card and/or a 'to whom it may concern letter' from them. This will act as confirmation that he's registered blind but will not in itself give further details as to what he can or cant see etc. Procedures have changed since I was registered the best part of 40 years ago but what the eye doctors now do (not sure when this change started) is to complete a 'certificate of visual impairment' (CVI) and a copy of this should be given to the patient. Your husband may be able to obtain one by contacting his local hospital but they may ask to see him in outpatients first. As well as my certificate of registration I also sent a letter from an eye consultant. This letter wssn't obtained specifically for PIP purposes. The eye hospital I wss under at the time often copied letters they sent to the gp to the patient concerned. The letter was a number of years old but it was perfect as it contained my diagnosis, visual acuities etc and likely prognosis. Would your husband be able to obtain a letter from a hospital eye doctor, his own gp, or optician? All these things take time of course and there's a strict time-limit for returning the form. Your husband could always ask for more time to get this supporting evidence (if granted its normally 2 weeks I think) or send the form back within the time limit but noting on it that further evidence will follow asap.

Hope this help. Good luck for your husband's claim.

Kind regards

Mr B

PS As well as posting on this forum and using the site's excellent PIP guides Sonia you may also find it helpful to look on the RNIB website and/or phone their helpline They even have a specialist form-filling service. For details of the helpline please click www.rnib.org.uk/ourservices/rnibhelpline