The government have introduced a service which, amongst other things, allows you to check the rate and length of your benefits award and download proof of entitlement. It is particularly useful at the moment for claimants who want to check their personal independence payment (PIP) award to see if they have been given an extension.
You can get proof for:
- Attendance Allowance
- Disability Living Allowance (DLA) for adults
- Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) - all types
- Income Support
- Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) - all types
- Pension Credit
- Personal Independence Payment (PIP)
- State Pension
The service doesn’t cover universal credit.
And you can’t use the service if you are an appointee.
Once you’ve registered, you can get the information straight away and download the letter to your device or you can ask for it to be posted to you, but this will take about a week.
To use the service go to the Get proof of your benefits and State Pension page on the gov.uk site.
You’ll then be taken to a page where you can either sign in with your gov.uk One Login if you already have an account or create one if you don’t.
There are various ways to create a account. The simplest is probably to use a valid photo id such as a passport or driving licence and a smartphone.
But if you don’t have those, you may still be able to register using a bank or building society account details and your national insurance number.
Once you have registered and logged in you’ll be able to check your benefits.
But for those of you checking if your PIP award has been extended, please be aware that this is a process that could go on for some weeks at least. So, just because it hasn’t been extended yet doesn’t mean it definitely won’t be.
We'll provide more information as soon as we have it. To make sure you know what is happening, sign up for our free, fortnightly newsletter.
Many thanks to site member Healthyme for alerting us to this service.
