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My DLA to PIP Story and Some Advice!

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5 years 9 months ago #213696 by jellybaby
My DLA to PIP Story and Some Advice! was created by jellybaby
I have just gone through transferring from DLA to PIP and wanted to let you know my (stressful but ultimately positive) experience. I apologise if it’s a tad long but I hope it helps some of you currently going through your PIP journey.

I was told in early January 2018 that I’d need to transfer from DLA to PIP. This immediately cast a dark cloud over our lives. Whilst we knew it was inevitable, the thought of the long and daunting process ahead of us, compounded by all the horror stories we’d heard, made the prospect very stressful.

We immediately started to research online and printed off the Citizens Advice Bureau’s lengthy pamphlet on the subject. Once we felt a bit more informed we called the DWP in the middle of January to confirm that we wanted to claim PIP. That began the pressure of the 4 week deadline to receive the form, fill it in, gather evidence and get it back to them!

The form arrived at the end of January, with a return deadline of mid-February. We’d already lost a whole week as everything from the DWP is frustratingly sent via 2nd class post.

Completing the form took two weeks of hard work. My conditions are rare and complex and it was often difficult to find the emotional and physical strength to answer the questions. However, some of the stress was alleviated when we discovered that, instead of hand-writing all my information on the PIP form, we could type it up on separate pages. This saved a huge amount of time and physical effort, and meant that we were able to be more detailed and not have to worry about my handwriting being clear and staying in the boxes!

Once we were happy with the form and had collected all the accompanying evidence we organised it all, photocopied everything and sent the entire package to the DWP by Royal Mail Guaranteed Next Day Delivery. This let us track the package, so we could see that it arrived at the Wolverhampton Postal Centre in the middle of February. And that, we thought, would be that for a while – we sat back and waited for a text telling us that our form was being processed.

Except that there was no text.

To cut a long story short, our package went AWOL in the postal centre. We phoned on a regular basis, and while the staff there were never less than helpful and polite (and even offered us a 14-day extension on our deadline without us even asking), they couldn’t find our information. After about three weeks they eventually agreed that it had probably been lost. The chap my partner spoke to seemed quite surprised when we asked if we could send copies – he was happy with the idea, but said ‘Most people don’t think that far ahead.’

Just after we sent the second package (making sure we copied everything again and sending Next Day Guaranteed), I got the text saying that the information was being processed. Whether they meant the first package or the second one is still a mystery!

A few weeks passed and we then received an appointment letter for a face-to-face assessment. They’d put us down for a home visit despite us at no point requesting one. We rang and changed it to an assessment centre nearby, which meant a new date and time, but we felt happier about it. The DWP had no problem changing this for us, as long as we understood there could be no further changes.

This is where this website came in handy – it gave us a good heads up as to what to expect from the assessment. Whilst exceptionally nervous we got through it okay, and our assessor was professional, focused and understanding. We were kept waiting about 35 minutes to go in but that was because the assessor was reading everything we had sent in – he even commented on how comprehensive and informative it was. We were then in the assessment over an hour. At the end he allowed my partner to look at the computer screen to view the layout and what he had been keying in.

Five days after the assessment, I received a text from the DWP saying they had received the assessor’s written report. A week or two after that a dreaded brown envelope arrived – thinking it was the decision my stomach dropped to my feet! It was however merely a brief letter telling me they now had everything they needed to make the decision.

In mid-May another brown envelope arrived, but this time it was indeed the decision letter. I got higher rate for each component for a ten year period. We were chuffed and the relief was truly momentous. I had actually achieved a better outcome (rate-wise) than I had on DLA.

We could once more live our life!

The whole process took some 17 weeks in total. We were emotionally and mentally drained and physically exhausted. Had the outcome not gone our way I wonder if I would have gone through to the next step, even though financially we would struggle enormously without the money. Fortunately, I haven’t had to make that decision.

Anyway, in the hope that it might benefit anyone still reading by this point, I’d like to offer the following pieces of advice. I think they helped us a lot.

1. Follow the advice on websites like this one and the CAB to fill in the form. It helps hugely to know what information is and isn’t relevant, the kind of phrases to use, and so on.
2. Don’t bother trying to write the form by hand. Type everything on a computer, edit and get it just how you want it, then print it out. Ensure your name and national insurance number is put on each page, along with the question number and question heading, and then put a short note in the box on the form: ‘See additional sheet page X’.
3. Organise all your answers and evidence. We even made up cover sheets for ours, showing how many sheets of paper should follow, and made sure every sheet had a ‘page x of y’ page number.
4. Copy EVERYTHING before you put it in the envelope. You never know when you might need it again!
5. If you possibly can, spend the extra money and send the envelope back to the DWP by Royal Mail Guaranteed Next Day Delivery. If you have to phone them up, it gives you a lot of traction if you can start each conversation by telling them when the documents arrived and what the tracking number was. The man at the postal centre who agreed we should send our copies told my partner he’d suggest everyone does this.

I hope this helps and I wish you all nothing but luck on your journey.
The following user(s) said Thank You: fighterpilot, Whirly

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5 years 9 months ago #213735 by Gordon
Replied by Gordon on topic My DLA to PIP Story and Some Advice!
jellybaby

Thank you for your post and congratulations on the award.

Gordon

tags: @RESULT @PIP

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

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5 years 9 months ago #213771 by bbzpda
Replied by bbzpda on topic My DLA to PIP Story and Some Advice!
Interested to hear your story. Many thanks.

Interested in the bit about a txt when they get stuff.

I have done ESA twice, PIP and now just done Carers and have never received a txt from them about the forms arriving.

The only way of knowing is to use tracked mail, as you did.

The Carers people did return some financial items I had to include, so at least I knew they have started processing it.

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5 years 9 months ago #213825 by jellybaby
Replied by jellybaby on topic My DLA to PIP Story and Some Advice!
Thank you, Gordon.

I hope you have a lovely break and are able to relax!

Your help here is invaluable and you deserve some time to yourself.

Kind regards,

jellybaby
The following user(s) said Thank You: Gordon

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5 years 9 months ago #213828 by jellybaby
Replied by jellybaby on topic My DLA to PIP Story and Some Advice!
Hi PDA,

I can only talk about PIP as I have not applied for any other benefits - mostly through not knowing what I'm entitled to and fear!

The text messaging was something we said "yes" to when we called the DWP in January to confirm I wanted to go ahead and claim PIP. It was a question they asked towards the end and at that point we gave my mobile number. I have to say they proved invaluable.

As I said I can't speak for the other benefits out there, so I'm not sure if they offer text messaging on the progress of a claim.

Good luck :)

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