People on PIP may be due back pay of up to £12,000 after a recent DWP assessment rule change. Members of a popular online benefits forum have received backdated Personal Independence Payments (PIP) of between £5,000 and nearly £12,000 following a recent rule change by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
Some 326,000 PIP cases are due for review after a change to the definition of ‘social support’, which relates to one of the Daily Living questions on the PIP 2 evidence form.
The independent Benefits and Work website reports that several members of its online community have been contacted by the DWP – by phone and through the post – informing them they are due a back payment.
The website shared how one member received a call on March 5 from a DWP decision maker who “ran through a few questions” with them, asking what plans they made when they were going out and who they used as their support when they did. They added: “She told me there and then that she was going to back date my claim to 2016 and increase it from standard to enhanced. I have just had just under £5,000 paid into my account today.”
The website also shared how one member’s partner received confirmation they would be due nearly £12,000 in backdated PIP. They said: “My partner received a missed call Tuesday, text received stating they will call back Wednesday morning. It sent him in a whirlwind thinking they were going to stop his entitlement.”, reports the Daily Record.
“The lady called as previously stated, spoke about the situation in hand and advised he would be receiving a payment in the coming days for almost £12,000. It has definitely come as a shock to say the least. I can confirm we hadn’t made any contact with PIP in regards to this, they just contacted us.”
Another member who moved from PIP to Adult Disability Payment (ADP) last year told Benefits and Work that they received a phone call to say they have been awarded neary £10,000, for the time they were on PIP from 2017 to 2023. Their daily living award has also been increased to the enhanced rate.
Tens of thousands of people in receipt of PIP may be due arrears going back as far as April 2016. Around 284,000 existing PIP claimants and those who might have had their claim rejected, are being urged to contact the DWP, if they think they may have been affected.
In July 2019, the Supreme Court handed down a judgment following an Upper Tribunal (UT) decision which changed the way the DWP considers the definition of ‘social support’ for Daily Living activity number nine. The ‘MM’ judgment concerns the definition of ‘social support’ when engaging with other people face to face and when ‘prompting’ should be considered ‘social support’ in the PIP assessment, and how far in advance social support can be provided.
By the end of August 2023, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) had looked at about 79,000 cases in light of the MM judgment. This includes cases where people have been assessed as needing ‘prompting’.
Around 14,000 back payments, adding up to roughly £74 million, have been made. It’s key to remember that the amount each person gets might be more or less, but on average, it works out at about £5,285 per Personal Independence Payment (PIP) claim.
Who might the assessment rule change impact?
The MM judgment can only affect a person’s assessment for the Daily Living part of the PIP assessment. The DWP is looking at cases where extra points for Activity 9 (‘prompting’ or ‘social support’) could make a big difference to the amount of PIP people are entitled to.
People who might have missed out on the Daily Living part of PIP, or were given the standard rate and might be entitled to the enhanced rate, include:
- People who have regular meetings with a mental health professional, without which they would not be able to manage face to face encounters.
- People who need the input of particular friends or relatives with experience of supporting them in social situations – rather than just any well-meaning friend or relative – to help them manage face to face encounters.
Claims the DWP are not reviewing
Claims are not being revied if:
- the enhanced rate of the daily living part of PIP has been awarded continuously since April 6, 2016
- a Tribunal made a decision on a claim since April 6, 2016
- a decision not to award PIP was made before April 6, 2016
How to make a claim
Claimants who want to dispute a decision on the review of their PIP claim under the MM judgment can ask the DWP to reconsider the decision – this is called a Mandatory Reconsideration (MR) and must be done before an appeal is made and lodged with His Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS).
You can find full details about challenging your PIP (and other benefit) decisions on GOV.UK here.
