Multiple PIP claims

Hi Ferret Whisperer,
By submitting a second claim this will cause the first claim to be a closed claim. Let me give you an example.
Ongoing 1st claim was started on 1st January 2021. MR submitted, no change await tribunal date.
2nd claim dated 4th July 2022. Nothing heard back from DWP yet.
Tribunal hearing is due on claim 1 on 5th June 2023.
If tribunal accept the appeal and make an award. This will be for claim 1, from 1st January 2021 until 3rd July 2022, ie to start of claim 2.
If subsequently claim 2 is agreed, then it will run from 4th July 2022 onwards.
If you get claim 1 MR or tribunal done quickly, and Pip payments actually start, there could be a period where PIP will stop ie at New claim start date,, and therefore isn't paid every week as the 2nd claim is yet to be determined albeit that you should get back pay to cover the gap when the 2nd claim is sorted.
I am always a bit reluctant to have 2 claims going on at once as it just complicates things.
However, if your health has deteriorated sufficiently to get an increased award from the 1st claim, this might be worthwhile to get the increased benefit awarded quicker.
Nevertheless, if you get into the situation where claim 1 is still awaiting a hearing and you have been refused on claim 2, (which could happen) get MR done ASAP on claim 2 and then ask that the tribunal hear claim 1 &2 as a joint appeal. You might need to ask for the claim 1 hearing to be postponed to allow claim 2 to catch up if this is the case.
So, to answer your question you can submit as many new claims as you want, but if DWP has refused a recent claim, and there is no more (or better) evidence they will probably refuse again. If you stick with one claim then at least you will get back pay from the original claim date, through to the hearing date, and then ongoing for the future. If for any reason a claim totally fails all appeals etc, then you won't achieve any back pay, if you succeed on a second or subsequent claim it will only be paid from the start date of that particular claim.
I hope this make sense.
LL26

Hi traceytracey,
No, as I stated in the previous post, the 1st claim doesn't get cancelled, just the award on claim 1 will end at the date when the 2nd claim starts.
You would usually need to do a MR on the 2nd claim and then appeal to the tribunal if need be, but definitely you can get the 2 claims before the tribunal in one hearing.
However, whenever possible sticking with 1 claim and waiting for the hearing is often less complicated, unless there is a very compelling reason for making the second claim.
I know some people might realise that the initial claim was poorly done and consider making a second claim. However, in this case simply explain in the MR and or appeal that you filled out the form by yourself and realised it was done poorly. You have since had proper advice and now want to raise further arguments and change responses as you misunderstood the questions etc. This then allows the tribunal to make an award stretching back to the beginning of the claim, and ongoing as long as appropriate, without risking any gaps in payment, once this is fully in place. The downside is that the whole process could take a long time. Hence why sometimes it feels like making a second claim is a good idea., on the basis that you could get some money quicker. This can work, and once you have the award on the second claim you can use this as leverage for DWP to revise the 1st claim. Or you just may end up with having to appeal 2 claims anyway!
I hope this clarifies.
LL26

traceytracey

There are some circumstances where a second claim will be subsumed into the first but there are many more where it will not.

Gordon