Increasingly concerned and anxious about PIP wait time.

AlarmedOne21

Hi all, I applied for PIP (my first time ever applying) at the start of September 2023 for issues relating to my autism, ADHD, and joint problems related to hyper mobility. My timeline is as follows:

06/09/2023 - Applied over the phone.
03/10/2023 - DWP confirmed receipt of "How your disability affects you" form.
24/11/2023 - Had telephone assessment with IAS and DWP confirmed receipt of report on the same day. 
11/12/2023 - Text saying "we have not yet made a decision".

I called the PIP helpline to check everything was okay on 16/01/2024, 8 weeks after my phone assessment and they initially told me that the system said that my phone assessment didn't take place. This instantly sent me into a bit of a panic but I said that it definitely did take place and I'd even received a text saying that the DWP had received the report. I even had the letter saying "We have all the information we need" back in December. He then said he needed to put me on hold to investigate so I waited. When he came back he told me that he had spoken to the case manager and he said that my claim is still in the queue waiting to be looked at. He said that this could take another 4-6 weeks as a guide!! It has now been 2 weeks since I called and I still haven't heard anything. It is causing me so much stress and anxiety. I just wanted to come on here to ask if anyone else has experienced or is currently experiencing something like this? Is it normal for it to take this long to hear back?

chiarieds

Hi @AlarmedOne21 - & welcome to the community. Generally speaking, after a PIP assessment it can take anything up to 12 weeks to get your decision letter. When you ring 'the DWP,' you are in fact put through to call handlers, who don't always give the correct info, so hopefully you'll hear soon.

There is just the possibility that the assessor's report is being checked to ensure that everything was done correctly, which is known as being in audit. If this has happened, then this may also delay things, unfortunately.

If you get a text to say a decision has been made, then you can ring again & you should find out the result rather than waiting for a letter.

Albus_Scope

Hey @AlarmedOne21 and a big welcome from me too.

I can see Chiarieds has already answered your query, but I just wanted to stop in and say hi. Unfortunately the wait can be quite long with DWP things currently, but please try to not let it get to you too much. 

AlarmedOne21

chiarieds said:

Hi @AlarmedOne21 - & welcome to the community. Generally speaking, after a PIP assessment it can take anything up to 12 weeks to get your decision letter. When you ring 'the DWP,' you are in fact put through to call handlers, who don't always give the correct info, so hopefully you'll hear soon.

There is just the possibility that the assessor's report is being checked to ensure that everything was done correctly, which is known as being in audit. If this has happened, then this may also delay things, unfortunately.

If you get a text to say a decision has been made, then you can ring again & you should find out the result rather than waiting for a letter.

Thank you for the message. I've hit the 12 week mark today and still no joy unfortunately. Would it be worth ringing to chase it up or is it probably just better to leave it and wait?

poppy123456

You can ring PIP for an update at anytime but they may not be able to give you any information. The timescale of up to 12 weeks, is just a guide and it can sometimes be longer.