PIP stopped on day of face to face?

AngelicaPickles

Good evening

I appreciate that there may not be many people up right now but my partner has said it's ok to ask for some reassurance as he's struggling really badly right now. I'm trying to convince him things are going to be OK and that there *is* a point to trying to sort this out rather than the thoughts he is having. He considers what is happening a failing on his part as I may lose my SDP and I'm very unwell and can't afford to live without it, but also can't work at the moment. I don't know what to do. I have nobody to talk to about this. Nobody even knows we claim benefit (or else because we're visibly disabled they just assume we would not have to fight for it) and my only family are our young children. He's just staring into space and I'm scared for his wellbeing.

... He was awarded PIP standard daily living for 3 years that was due to end 28/01/22. Review form recieved and sent back August 2021. Award extended for a year in January 2022. Went to face to face appointment yesterday. Up until yesterday every single text he's recieved says that PIP will stay in payment until it's reviewed. The lady said as much at the assessment and that although she would send everything back today, the decision would take 6-8 weeks. 

He's had no further texts or letters since last year to say it has been extended again to give DWP time to review it, and the only thing I can find online is about DWP automatically extending by up to a year - though his was extended well before they "announced" this. Months before.

At midnight he's received his PIP payment and it was only a partial payment of 2 weeks. I think they've stopped the award as of the end of Jan.

I'm trying to encourage him he needs to get some sleep and to speak to DWP tomorrow to confirm why he hasn't received 4 weeks as usual. I've suggested it's because the award ended in January and they only extend for up to a year so they're waiting on the decision before making any more payments. He's completely convinced that the report was sent back today, and that because the assessors report suggests not enough points, some automated system/triage of cases has caused his award to be stopped immediately before it's looked at and officially denied within the next 6 weeks. This doesn't happen does it? I've said that the payment takes days to process so even if all that were true, they wouldn't have known he wasn't entitled at the point of processing the payments.

I know he won't speak to them. This is why we had to have the face to face appointment today (yesterday... no sleep yet) because he wouldn't have completed the call with them if he could avoid it. If he won't call to ask and I can snap him out of this mood, is it safe to assume that he's just not been paid because the award ended and this is normal and all we can do is wait? Also what is the likelihood my ESA will be suspended/reduced in the meantime? It's due in 10 days or so and I'm trying to not worry about it.

So very sorry for this burden/total whinge. Any advice or encouraging words would be appreciated.

S

poppy123456

Usually awards continue until a decision is made on the review because of the delays with decisions for reviews. His award already being extended for a year is irrelvant because as i said they usually continue until a decision is made.

BACS payments take 3-5 working days to go into your bank so payment would need to be made at least a few days before it was due, as you correctly said.

I can only guess why he's only received part of his payment so he will need to ring PIP to ask when they open at 9am.

For the SDP with your ESA, i'm assuming that you're also claiming either PIP daily living or DLA mid/high rate care yourself or you're registered blind, otherwise you wouldn't be entitled to it. If either of your PIP/DLA awards stop then the SDP will also stop.

calcotti

As poppy says all you can do at the moment is ring PIP to see if they can tell you why the amount has changed.

If you discover that PIP has stopped then he can challenge the decision once he has the decision letter.

AngelicaPickles

Thank you both, it's reassuring to know it won't be stopped until the decision is at least made. Got to the bottom of it. He has a small overpayment from 6 years ago and deductions have been processed incorrectly. Have to call back in a week to ask for a refund of the difference in what's been taken and what it should have been. It was just bad timing that this happened now, hence the confusion.

He had waited 6 months for carers allowance to be processed... we couldn't afford to live so he went back to work full time and I was getting a direct payment instead. He was awarded carers allowance 2 weeks later. He told the person who called about the back payment and they closed it off but he owed about £120. He went to a compliance interview about it and was given a civil penalty of £50 because he didn't notify CA that he had started working more hours. That's fair enough  even though he didn't know if it had been awarded. Never heard anything after the interview, not even a letter to confirm the amount owed.

Someone's gone in and not checked that I'm on an income related benefit. They had set the deductions to the maximum amount of 1/3rd and also worked that out wrong, which is the reason he only received 2 weeks of money.  He's had them reduced to £5 odd a week for now but as the current deducted amount isn't showing on debt management's systems yet, nothing can be refunded until next week. We'll struggle to manage until then anyway so I don't see the point of getting something refunded that has to be paid anyway.

This whole thing has made me realise I need to sort my finances out. We have children but our ex partners claim child benefit because of shared responsibilities. Unfortunately due to their personal circumstances they aren't paying an equal amount towards things. I can't just not buy things like uniform or school dinners because I'm not getting 50% of the money back. It would seem like we are getting a lot of money but it's not intended for 5 people to live off. I pay the so called bedroom tax too because the children's rooms are "spare". Wondering how I can just *will* my body to work properly so I can go back to work and despair if one payment doesn't go in! 😅 I don't know why I'm writing all of this, it just feels better to let it out.

ShirleyW

@AngelicaPickles sorry you are going through this.  Life does seem to conspire against us at times.  Chin up and soldier on, I'm sure you will be ok and sometimes things like this can make us stronger.

Writing it down helps because it can stop it building up too much in your mind.

Good luck.

calcotti

Glad you managed to get through and clarify what has happened.

AngelicaPickles said:

This whole thing has made me realise I need to sort my finances out. We have children but our ex partners claim child benefit because of shared responsibilities. Unfortunately due to their personal circumstances they aren't paying an equal amount towards things. .. I pay the so called bedroom tax too because the children's rooms are "spare". Wondering how I can just *will* my body to work properly so I can go back to work and despair if one payment doesn't go in!..

You said your ex claims Child Benefit. Are either of you claiming Child tax Credits or the child element Universal Credit?

Who do the children live with most of the time?

AngelicaPickles

@calcotti My partner's daughter lives with her mother and spends time with him but not set days. He pays maintenance and for school trips etc as well as spending money. I'm wary of commenting on what I think is fair in their situation.

I know for certain my ex partner is getting universal credit towards rent and childcare costs (before and after school club two days a week). He won't claim free school meals and says he can't be bothered because some months he works two jobs and gets no UC and some months does the minimum. It's not affecting him as he doesn't pay and I get billed from school and have to pay it.

It's a long story but the gist of it is he's a good dad but did something sly towards me because of money. I became ill while pregnant with our youngest and while I was in hospital suddenly completely unable to walk he moved in with someone else and rinsed my bank account. He also made an application for a child arrangements order. I wasn't notified of anything as I had nobody to open my post. Obviously, I didn't attend mediation because I never knew it had been requested. My house was empty for 6 months. Sheer bad timing but the cafcass officer was ill and didn't contact me before the court date. The order names him as "the person with whom the children shall live". It notes that I'm physically ill, and that the father must ensure that the children spend time with the mother. It said that we had agreed this should be 3 days a week and school holidays but that this may change according to my health. I did email the district judge when I found out. He kindly amended the order to commend me on my "child centred approach to parenting" and to state the reason given for my non attendance.. but as I don't actually dispute the 50% care arrangements that's how it's been for almost a decade now. If I try to claim anything, because it's disputed, they side with my ex partner and say to get legal advice. As our eldest's nursery costs were in my name when I went into hospital and so were the child tax credits, I've been paying back an overpayment of £4,000 to HMRC because they backdated his own claim from the date he made the court application a year earlier. He said he will never give up any claim at mediation and he knows I can't afford a solicitor. I can't make an application to court for the sole reason that I want more money anyway. They don't care what affects the parents, just what's in the best interests of your children, which I do understand even if it feels unfair.

I've thought about discretionary housing payments but last time they said that they don't take child related costs into consideration if you don't get child benefit. That doesn't seem very discretionary. I think I just got someone having a bad day or who wasn't knowledgeable.

Lou67

@AngelicaPickles

Im so sorry for everything you’ve been through the past while, I really hope things settle down for you, and you can have some well needed peace. I just wanted to wish you well.

Take care ❤️

AngelicaPickles

@ShirleyW @Lou67 Thank you, I honestly just feel better for typing it out. I don't have many friends and this isn't the kind of thing to share with people in everyday conversation anyway. I do feel that we have a good life which I'm grateful for. I'm just trying to remember that if money is the worst thing I've got to worry about then things could be worse. I have a social landlord so I don't think they can evict us for missing one weeks rent... yet and we do have food in the freezer and heating on. My partner is lovely and supportive but he is "useless" when it comes to stress that he thinks he has caused. He's just been sat there "thinking" for almost 12 hours now. I'm going to ask for some help with the garden before we pick the kids up and see if it cheers him up a bit. Have a lovely afternoon all x

Lou67

@AngelicaPickles

So glad to hear you have a good partner, and your right at least you have the essentials yous need. I’m always grateful for that to.
I hope he goes out to the garden with you, as a little bit off fresh air will do him good. ❤️

ShirleyW

Fresh air and sunshine 🌞 can work wonders.  

calcotti

AngelicaPickles said:

...I know for certain my ex partner is getting universal credit towards rent and childcare costs (before and after school club two days a week).  etc

Unfortunately, based on your narrative it does look as if you are not able to claim help for being a parent that does mean you have 'spare' bedrooms. As you say a DHP will not help with this if you are not the 'responsible parent'. (I hate that phrase - both parents are responsible but only one can be treated as the primary parent.)

Cher_Alumni

Hi @Angelapickles

I'm sorry the coincidental timing caused your husband some stress, is he okay now? Getting out into the fresh air does wonders and can get us 'out of our own heads' so I hope the gardening helped.

You mentioned that your ex 'rinsed your bank account' while you were ill, pregnant in hospital. That's awful. Was it a joint bank account? And if not, did you report it at the time? It might be in the past now, but if we can be of any support around this please let us know.

And feel free to natter with us anytime you fancy. As you can see, our members are super friendly and we'd love to get to know you some more. Maybe check out our coffee lounge the next time you have a brew?

Take care and have a fab Thursday.