Backdating PIP in Scotland

PauI

I have been on disability indefinitely for about 9 years now. Nearly 3 years ago I was changed to pip they decided to take me of the high rate mobility component to the low rate and changed my disability living allowance from the low rate to the high rate. This confused me. The medical team I see at the hospital every week told me I have to appeal. I did appeal and I waited about a year for the outcome, I received a letter from pip saying they have looked at my case again and they decided to give me the high rate on both.
I was told that theyou don't back date the money anymore. I live in edinburgh. Can anyone else tell me if this is true or false information they have given me. Thanks Paul Reid. 

Geoark

Hello @Paul and welcome to the community.

@BenefitsTrainingCo any advice for this new member?

BenefitsTrainingCo

PauI - if you challenged the original decision (made 3 years ago) within a certain time limit, then they must backdate to the date of that decision.

I'm not sure if you actually appealed (filling in a form called SSCS1) or you asked for a revision, which is a necessary step before you appeal and is sometime successful. It's also called asking for a mandatory reconsideration. If that was successful then you would not have needed to go on to appeal. If it wasn't successful then you might have continued to challenge the decision by appealing against the mandatory reconsideration result.

If you were asking for a revision of the decision, then the DWP may have treated it as  being 'late' because it was presumably made more than a month after your original PIP decision. You might have been able to get your late request accepted if you gave reasons for  it being late AND you made it within 13 months of the original PIP decision.

If you didn't make it clear that you were asking for a late revision and that you had reasons for it being late, then the DWP wouldn't backdate. The only other way to get backdating would be to say that the revision was because of 'official error'  - for example, the DWP had all the information they needed at the time of your original PIP decision and still made a mistake.

So, it's not true that they don't backdate, but it depends on the circumstances. Have a think about whether you explained why your request for revision was late (and how late it was), OR whether you think the DWP made an official error.

Sorry this is so complicated. Feel free to come back to us.

Will