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PIP Mandatory Appeal.

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11 months 4 weeks ago #285755 by mtimp
PIP Mandatory Appeal. was created by mtimp
Hi all.

My wife suffers with severe Depression, Stress and Anxiety. She has had the condition for 3/4 years now and over that time it has become increasingly more debilitating, to the extent now that she rarely leaves home and will not interact with anybody outside of immediate family.

She claimed PIP initially in 2020 and was awarded standard rate daily living component.

Her condition soon started to worsen and by Autumn 2022 when her first PIP review was due, she was pretty much as described above. We completed the review form between us as there was no way she'd have had the inclination to do it herself and returned it in late October/early November 2022 together with evidence from her Clinical Psychologist that her condition had worsened to the extent that it seriously impacted on her day to life.

She finally had her medical assessment (by phone, 1 hour 45 minutes) in October of this year, ie, almost a year after submitting the review form and associated evidence and, last Saturday she received her new award letter advising she's been awarded higher rate daily living (15 points) and standard rate mobility (10 points).

Obviously that's a great help to us going forward but our issue is that the award starts 20th November 2023, more than a year after the form, etc was submitted.

I have rang the DWP today and asked why this date was used and they say (I think) because that's the date the review was finalised and the decision made.

This seems to me to mean that my wife is being penalised because it took the DWP over a year to process her review. My argument today was that, if the medical assessment had been carried out in say February 2023 then they would not have waited until November to make the award, it would have been decided February, March 2023 at the latest.

Does this sound right or am I missing something?? I have requested a MR today effectively based on the concept that my wife is missing out on a years increased benefit for no reason other than the DWP execute reviews at a snails pace.

Any comments, examples or advice gratefully received.

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11 months 4 weeks ago #285780 by Gary
Replied by Gary on topic PIP Mandatory Appeal.
Hi mtimp

If you had applied for a change in circumstances then your award would have been backdated to the date of the phone call/letter.

As it was a PIP review, then any increase in award will be from the date of the review and not from when you sent in the form.

Gary

Nothing on this board constitutes legal advice - always consult a professional about specific problems

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