People who claim PIP or were denied benefit payments could be owed £13,000 due to rule change

PEOPLE who made a claim for disability benefits could be owed cash after a change to rules.

Personal Independence Payments (PIP) is for those with a long-term health condition and can be claimed by those working or not.

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A health assessment determines your eligibility for the benefit, and how severely it affects you which determines the rate you get.

Applicants can get between £23.70 and £152.15 a week from age 16 up to state pension age.

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has said that it is looking again at recent claims.

After a tribunal ruling, the department says that some people could be owed more cash.

When being assessed for PIP, it will now be considered if someone is able to bathe safely if they are deaf or hearing impaired and whether they need a visual alarm or supervision.

Claims made from 21 August 2020 will now be looked at again taking into account the new guidance, with some exceptions.

It could see some who were turned down for PIP get the payment, including backdated to the original assessment date.

Your claim won’t be looked at again if you were already awarded the enhanced rate of the daily living part of PIP, if you complained to a tribunal about a PIP award and a decision has been made.

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If you got no award of PIP but you should have got it, you could get back pay of nearly £13,000.

But you’d have to be entitled to the maximum amount and have made a claim originally in August 2020 to get that much, as that’s what you should have got in the first place between then and now.

So if it was after this you claimed, or you get the lower amounts of PIP, it would be less.

If you’re affected you shouldn’t have to do anything, the DWP should write to you to let you know your claim is being reviewed.

There’s no set date for this but the DWP said it could take come time. You won’t need a new health assessment.

Anyone who applies for PIP from now on, and claims since 17 May 2021, are considered under the new rules.

PIP errors

I’s not clear how many are affected by the rule change, but we’ve asked the DWP and will update when we hear back.

But it’s not the only time that PIP claims have been reviewed.

An estimated 150,000 Brits on benefits could be owed thousands in backpay after an error calculating PIP payments.

One man was awarded £12,000 after a recalculation.

There is a mobility component which can increase the amount of money you get, if eligible.

In 2017, a court ruling found that assessments for this element discriminated against people with mental health conditions.

People with certain issues should have been given more points when they were being assessed for PIP.

The DWP has been reviewing previous PIP claimants to see if they should have been awarded more money.

But there are still thousands of people owed money, and they can make a claim to get the cash back if they think they are affected without waiting for the DWP to contact them.

The court decision affects PIP claims that were decided between November 27, 2016 and June 28, 2018 Citizens Advice say.

Claims for PIP made after this date take into account the court ruling and those with mental health conditions are fairly treated.

It says that you can ask the DWP to look again if you:

• have a mental health condition that makes going outside difficult
• didn’t get the mobility component of PIP or you got the standard rate of the mobility component

According to Benefits at Work, there are around 20 conditions which successful claimants have suffered from, including phobias, anxiety, panic and mood disorders.

The organisation which helps people claim benefits, said that if a condition is not listed, it doesn’t mean a claim for backpay wouldn’t be successful, or that if it is listed, that a claim would automatically entitle you to backpay.

If you think you’re affected and should be owed backpay for PIP you should look at the original decision letter you received.

The decision must have been made between 27 November 2016 and 28 June 2018.

Challenging PIP decisions

If you think a PIP decision was wrong, you can challenge it.

There were 905,870 claims made for PIP last year, and 182,880 of those were appealed. Some 78,390 of those appeals were successful.

Anyone can challenge a decision about benefits this way, but it can take time.

If your application has been turned down, or you don’t think you’ve been offered enough cash, you can appeal the decision.

You first need to ask for a “mandatory reconsideration notice”.

This is where the DWP looks at the decision again.

If you are still unhappy with this outcome, you can then appeal to an independent tribunal.

You must send your appeal form in within one month of the date shown on the mandatory reconsideration notice.

Be warned that it usually takes up to six months for an appeal to be heard by the tribunal.

Before it gets to the tribunal, the DWP can make a revision to the original claim.

If you’re unhappy with the decision you get from the tribunal, you may be able to get the decision cancelled – known as “set aside”. You’ll be told how to do this at the time.

You may also be able to appeal to the Upper Tribunal (Administrative Appeals Chamber) if you think the tribunal wasn’t able to give you proper reasons for its decision, or back up the decision with facts, or if it failed to apply the law properly.

You can get advice and support for appealing a decision for free from organisations like Citizens Advice and Benefits and Work.

This post first appeared on thesun.co.uk