Telephone calls and dates claim start

Broken

A bit confused. Had the brown envelope to say DLA ending and need to apply for PIP. Letter states claim must be started by telephoning them. So ... is the start date of the claim, the date of this telephone call? I will need to ask for a paper form to be sent out to me as I cannot deal with this via the telephone. If given one month to complete and return this form, does the start date of my claim change at all? I am concerned that if the forms take say, two weeks to be sent out and arrive (not unheard of!), this will only leave me two weeks to fill them in and return them by the due date (whatever that may be). Right now my thoughts are "It won't be long before this government invite all useless, scrounging, disabled, waste of space folk to take a "free train trip" and enjoy the benefits of a communal "shower" (no water being used), followed by a mass "sunbed" session (with temperatures to suit the purpose) and the promise of then "floating freely in the atmosphere for eternity. Absolutely no offence intended to anyone.  

Debbie_Alumni

Hi @Broken,

The first part of the claim is a phone call and this is the date that the claim starts. Once you've made the initial claim by phone you'll be sent the 'How your disability affects you' form. It's not uncommon to hear that the form isn't received until two weeks before it's due back.

If you find that you don't have enough time to fill it in you can ask for an extension and this will probably be allowed.

Do you know if there are any local advice services in your area that can help you with the form-filling if needed?

It's a bit of a gruelling process but wherever possible try to keep to deadlines and if you can't, tell the DWP.

I hope it all goes well moving forward. 

Best wishes
Debbie

Matilda

@Broken

If DWP argue about giving you an extension insist you need extra time because you have to get help to fill in the long complex form. DWP gave me two extra weeks.

Scope Helpline might be able to advise about  f2f help locally.

Disability Rights UK site has a good guide to claiming PIP including a draft diary that you can adapt.  Submit a 7 day diary with your PIP claim.

You can always ask specific questions on theScope forum.

Broken

Thank you for your advise and help. I am currently a bit traumatised. My daughter made the initial phone call for me, I was able to confirm when asked that she had my permission to do this. The man on the phone became somewhat insistent and sounded aggressive when she said that I wanted all dealing done via post and NOT by phone (he later agreed that all would be on paper). He was adamant that he had to have my telephone number (even though I am ex-directory and will not answer calls from unknown numbers) and also the telephone numbers of both my daughters who will be helping me to fill in the forms - when they arrive. DWP obviously have ALL of my details, I fail to understand why my and my daughters phone numbers were an absolutely essential requirement. ???
He repeatedly said that my daughter must confirm the number that was showing up on his system (but would not say what that was). Being ex directory and also putting 141 in front of the dialled number should not have displayed my number to him .... if it DID ... why did he not quote it and ask for confirmation? 

Matilda

I don't think there is anything sinister in the DWP requiring these various details - all government departments are very bureaucratic - and they are entitled to ask for info they deem necessary from claimants.

For PIP, the initial claim is by phone where they ask for bureaucratic details.  From then on it's by post unless you want to phone them for info/updates, or they do need to phone you for some reason although this would be quite rare, only in the case of anything unusual.

In other words, the DWP need your own phone number in case they need to contact you by phone, and I assume they also want your daughters' numbers, too, because they sometimes act on your behalf.