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"Have you ever been in hospital?" PIP compliance

Zebra88

Hi everyone

I've been going through the review process with PIP which wasn't the most enjoyable experience. I had to submit numerous customer service complaints from the start... such as 160 pages of meducal evidence beeing scanned incorrectly (only first 4 pages scanned). The assessor has lied on multiple occasions throughout and has only included two of my repeat daily medications in the form too, despite me sending copies of slips for 12 medications I take daily. Despite this I have been awarded enhanced on both indefinitely because the DWP decision maker overrided some things the assessor said as I had medical evidence to the contrary.

Anyway 2 days before I received my decision I had a letter come through with a really vague question... have you ever been in hospital? I called to ask what this was as I initially thought the decision maker was asking and I was told that my medical evidence indicates multiple hospital stays. All of my surgeries have been day case during the lifetime of my case. The only times I've been in hospital and stayed since i started claiming are 4 nights from breaking my ribs, 4 days with severe pain and another night with severe pain, all more than 6 months apart. I notified DWP the first time as I didn't know whether I should, albeit ESA and they said it was fine as no more than 28 days. It doesn't state whether or not they mean before my claim as I have had numerous reasons to stay in hospital but surely they don't mean ever as in since I was born... they want to know about each occasion... there's about 100 stays over 30 years. Assuming they just mean since I started my PIP claim 2 years ago and not the numerous outpatient appointments, am I in trouble for not telling them about the 4 days when I broke my ribs?

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Comments

wilko

No you won't be in trouble, you have given them the best evidence you can.

poppy123456

You ony have to inform DWP if you're in hospital for a period of 28 days or more or a total of 28 days in two or more periods as an in-patient separated by 28 days or less. Based on what you stated then no you didn't need to inform them and you have nothing to worry about.

Zebra88

Just logged in and realised I didn't follow up. My PIP claim was suspended at the time due to being in hospital over night which did not affect my claim but I had a duty to report it which I'm aware of now. It turns out the person who made the suspension was supposed to call me and didn't, they didn't even write to me. I gave the hospital info over the phone and due to a further error that advisor did not lift the suspension or even advise me there had been one. I only realised when I came to pay my carer and had not been paid any PIP and it took over a week to get sorted. Further payments were also affected because they had issued an ad hoc faster payment during the payment period for the next one.

Re previous note, thank you for yiur advice however I had already stated the medical evidence had supported a successful claim. It was my adult services support plans and reports from specialists from the last two years commenting on my physical disability and functional ability. Unfortunately due to having a rare condition for which there is no specialist I can see I am under approx 10 healthcare professionals at any point to symptomatically treat various parts of my body. Therefore the OT who fitted my foot orthoses cannot comment on the effects of my heart condition etc. Having worked within DWP I was always told that evidence had to be the complete document regardless of whether scanned pages were intentionally blank or had irrelevant info, as there could be potentially relevant info on missing pages. Some of my reports are up to 8 pages long as they list follow ups etc. I didn't mean 160 documents, there was just a lot of info in each one amounting to that many pages. I was worried myself that it would be too much but I was actually praised on the relevance of each piece and how I had referenced it to the descriptors by the decision maker when I spoke to them.
Anyway just thought I would update. Also I did get a laugh and an apology about the wording of the clerical letter from the next advisor I spoke to who said whoever wrote that was not paying attention or just being plain lazy in asking such a vague question! Also they should contact you to notify you of the suspension but they wrongly assumed the next person would lift it when I called with the info - under normal circumstances I would not have even been aware they suspended it unless I didn't reply.

hopeforall

In the pip reward etc letters it says even 1 day has to be reported to them. Do you have to tell them what you was in for or just give dates.

poppy123456

hopeforall said:

In the pip reward etc letters it says even 1 day has to be reported to them. Do you have to tell them what you was in for or just give dates.

This is an old thread from 2018 that you've commented on. Hospital stays of less than 28 days do not need to be reported. The day you go in and come home are not counted. If you go back in within 28 days of coming home, that's counted as linking days and will count towards the 28 days from your previous stay. https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/benefits/sick-or-disabled-people-and-carers/pip/pip-changes-and-reviews/changes-that-affect-pip/

You don't need to tell them why you were in.

2oldcodgers

Based on that info it is being suggested that you only need to inform the DWP if you believe you will be in for more than 28 days?
How would you know how long you will be in for? Surely it's better to say nothing to them until you come out and if it was more than 28 days you would have a small overpayment of benefit to settle at a minimal weekly/4 weekly amount that you can afford.
I went into hospital expecting just a few days. It ended up from early Feb 04 to late April 04!!
Thankfully I had no need to tell the DWP anything as I had not renewed my DLA (High Care & High Mobility) which ran out also in the February (2004) until 7 years later (2011) when I reclaimed it.

poppy123456

2oldcodgers said:

Based on that info it is being suggested that you only need to inform the DWP if you believe you will be in for more than 28 days?
How would you know how long you will be in for? Surely it's better to say nothing to them until you come out and if it was more than 28 days you would have a small overpayment of benefit to settle at a minimal weekly/4 weekly amount that you can afford.

Well obviously no one will know how long they are going to be in for. If everyone rang as soon as they are admitted then the phone lines would be even more busier than they are now!

You can’t report changes before they happen, it’s the same for all benefits.

2oldcodgers

poppy123456 said:

2oldcodgers said:

Based on that info it is being suggested that you only need to inform the DWP if you believe you will be in for more than 28 days?
How would you know how long you will be in for? Surely it's better to say nothing to them until you come out and if it was more than 28 days you would have a small overpayment of benefit to settle at a minimal weekly/4 weekly amount that you can afford.

Well obviously no one will know how long they are going to be in for. If everyone rang as soon as they are admitted then the phone lines would be even more busier than they are now!

So if you leave it until you come home you will still receive both care and mobility - if already awarded payments. If it is more than 28 days then you will only have to repay the overpayment by a minimal amount.
There is therefor no need to telephone the DWP at all until after discharge.

poppy123456

2oldcodgers said:

poppy123456 said:

2oldcodgers said:

Based on that info it is being suggested that you only need to inform the DWP if you believe you will be in for more than 28 days?
How would you know how long you will be in for? Surely it's better to say nothing to them until you come out and if it was more than 28 days you would have a small overpayment of benefit to settle at a minimal weekly/4 weekly amount that you can afford.

Well obviously no one will know how long they are going to be in for. If everyone rang as soon as they are admitted then the phone lines would be even more busier than they are now!

So if you leave it until you come home you will still receive both care and mobility - if already awarded payments. If it is more than 28 days then you will only have to repay the overpayment by a minimal amount.
There is therefor no need to telephone the DWP at all until after discharge.

Yup, exactly. No point telling then when you go in because it hasn't yet been 28 days. If you did then you will need to ring them again either when you leave, if it's before 28 days or once you reach day 28 because after that PIP is then suspended. Why ring them twice when there's no need?

To be clear this only applies to those aged 18 and over. For those aged under 18 PIP/DLA/ADP continues, even after day 28. (even if you reach 18 while in hospital)