Cancel PIP

happylarry

Hi, 
my son 17 yrs old, would like to cancel his PIP, he didn’t know his mother had applied for it, does not consider himself as having as any difficulties, he doesn’t live with his mother, has not had any contact with her for 10 months, he asked her to cancel before leaving home but she refused and would not discuss, she continues to receive payments, we tried to speak with DWP but they wouldn’t listen or discuss because his mother is an ‘appointee’ .

he’s in college has a job and has recently passed his driving test, doesn’t know what to do to make it stop?
any suggestions on helping him sort this mess out?
thanks

poppy123456

If she's receiving the payments and not giving the money to your son then this doesn't sound like she's acting in his best interests, which is what an appointee should be doing.

Your son can contact PIP himself and request the appointee to be removed. Full details here. https://www.scope.org.uk/advice-and-support/removing-an-appointee/

You can't just cancel a PIP award, that's not how it works. Once the appointee has been removed he can then report a change of circumstances for his health improving. He will then be reassessed.

Just to add that attending college, working and passing a driving test doesn't exclude anyone from claiming PIP.

Hannah_Alumni

Hello @happylarry

Welcome to the community! I see Poppy has given some great advice about how to remove his mother as an appointee. I would also suggest reaching out to Citizen's Advice as you have tried contacting the DWP before, they may have more advice and support to help you with this. 

Of course, for any correspondence, I would advise asking for a change of address too, to make sure he is receiving any letters from them. 

happylarry

Thanks for the reply’s , sadly the payments for my son have been going on for a long time, (12years) a subject access request to the DWP revealed that he was represented as dyslexic incontinent  autistic has anxiety issues and mobility issues, from reading online I’m guessing  that his mother has requested that these previous representations are used for the PIP claim and she has avoided a face to face assessment. 

I should add that my son has lived between us for the previous 8yrs (before he decided to leave because of the PIP claim) so I am fully aware that he has none of the above difficulties.
The appointee (his other) is a barrister specialising in DWP claims so knows the system inside and out!

I spoke with the DWP, they said they will not speak with my son as he has an appointee, I have spoken with social services who will not help (said they don’t deal with the DWP and I previously reported via the report fraud website with no success in stopping this.

any suggestions?
thanks

poppy123456

DWP do not need the appointees permission to stop the current appointee. I'd advise you to send a letter to DWP explaining everything.

I don't know what happens when you report fraud but i do know that they will not inform you of any outcome. The PIP award probably won't stop straight away but they will contact the mother and investigate the claim.

PIP can only be claimed from the age of 16 so there must have been a DLA award before this. May i ask how you know the payments are continuing?

happylarry

We presumed that the payments were continuing as he she hadn’t contacted him to say they had stopped, however she contacted him yesterday with a list of mobility cars that are available to him.

yes, the subject access request confirmed that DLA and a carers allowance was received, the questions and the descriptions of care are quite frankly unbelievable.