Help advise on PIP claim rejected

Drop

Hello, I  made a PIP application but it was rejected for being  abroad for more than a year in a period of 3 years ( which period was 26/02/ 2020  to June 2021 during lockdown) as I was in a country outside the EEA where the travel bans were longer than yhose in theUK). I made an application on June 2022 and I got the decision letter yezterday(23/01/23).
How can I appeal the decision as all was out of my control..i had initially gone on a 5 weeks trip but caught up in the lockdown?

calcotti

There is nothing to appeal. Even though it was out of your control you do not satisfy the requirements to be eligible. To be eligible you must have been in Great Britain for 104 weeks out of the last 156 weeks. You can apply again in June 2023.

Cher_Alumni

Hi @Drop I'm glad you found our community when wondering about this question.

Unfortunately, it does seem like very bad luck that the lockdown contributed to you contravening the PIP advanced decision making requirement that:

C2021 The prescribed conditions are that on any day the claimant
1. is present in GB and
2. has been present in GB for a period of (or periods amounting in total to) 104 weeks in the 156 weeks immediately preceding that day and
3. is habitually resident in the UK, the Republic of Ireland, the Isle of Man or the Channel Islands and
4. is
4.1 not a PSIC within the meaning of specifc legislation2 (see C2006) or
4.2 exempt from the legislation excluding PSICs from PIP3 (see C2008 et seq) 

Please bear in mind, for free independent welfare advice, you can find someone close to you via the Advice Local website however I believe there isn't anything they could do in this instance. 

We wish you the very best with applying later this year. Just to let you know, I moved this thread to our PIP, DLA and AA category so others can find it more easily and reply.

Take care.