Can someone clear up my confusion about my PIP award.

steve999

Hi,

I have mild CP and Autism and I was awarded the PIP I put in for in August via a text message a week ago, I rang them today to find out what rate and from when and the lady wasn't sure what was going on so she rang me back.

The circumstances are as follows:

Pre 2021 I was on DLA indefinite award and ESA Income related, I then went to prison until April this year - the only document I received was a P45 - on my release I applied for UC and once I was finally settled in temporary accommodation for more than a week I applied for PIP.

When the lady rang back she said what they've done is reactivated my DLA and I'll get a payment on 7th January before my PIP starts on the 8th, I was under the impression from what I was told by staff within the prison that all benefits were stopped once you're in prison rather than suspended and new claims would need to be made.

Have they done this to avoid back pay and from the sound of it I'm on standard PIP as opposed to being on higher rate DLA.

Is what they've done correct? Will it all make sense when I receive the letter, the lady didn't seem sure that's what should have happened. When I had the DLA assessment in was in person but the PIP one was over the phone even though I'd asked for a face to face.

Sorry for the long winded post but I was hoping for a slightly more well off Christmas!

Steve

poppy123456

DLA is just suspended while in prison and starts back up again once you're released. If your DLA award was higher than your PIP then they haven't done anything to avoid paying you.

When transferring from DLA to PIP there's never any money owed and your PIP payments usually start around 7 weeks after the PIP decision was made.

steve999

Hi,

Thank you, I finally have a straight answer! Looking on the 'net I was going round in circles getting more & more confused by the minute. Didn't help the lady on the phone seemed to be uncertain. Can't wait for them to put the voice recognition software on the phone it will be fun getting it to know what you want to do, it's bad enough now.

Thanks again

Steve