Pip change of circumstances- is my back pay correct?

pigeon55

Told pip on 6th March of change of circumstances. Had face to face assessment at home on 5th June. Had a letter today saying they would still be paying my standard daily living payment but would be paying me the min mobility from 16th July is this correct as I would have thought it should have been paid from when the change of circumstances.could you please advise

pigeon55

Medical evidence shows these changes were diagnosed 5 months prior toexperience asking for change of circumstances
 And they only gave me back pay from the 12th July is there a reason for this as well.

BenefitsTrainingCo

pigeon55,
So, if I've understood this correctly you were previously getting just standard daily living of PIP & now you've been awarded the standard mobility component as well. This should go back to the day you satisfied the conditions (as Mike explains, you need to have met them for 3 months), as long as you told the DWP within a month of that. 

You have evidence that you had the relevant difficulties 5 months before you reported them, although you didn't report them within a month of meeting the 3 month condition, which would allow maximum backdating.

You could argue that you have a good reason for your late notification of the change. You'll need to include reasons why you didn't report it earlier (ie within 4 months of meeting the conditions - one month of meeting the 3 month condition). There could be several reasons involved, including worry about being reassessed, your conditions in themselves, or other stuff going on. If they don't agree to accept a late notification then you could appeal.

Meanwhile, even if you don't bother arguing for late notification, the change should STILL go back to when you reported it, which was 6th March. So as Mike says, it is time to request a mandatory reconsideration. You can say:

on 6th March I reported a change in circumstances - at that time I had had my increased difficulties for 5 months or more (diagnosis was 5 months before)

you agree that I now meet the conditions for PIP standard mobility as well as standard daily living

you should backdate the change to 6th March when I reported the decision (see the UC, PIP, JSA & ESA (Decision & Appeal) Regs 2013, Schedule 1, para 14). 

If you decide to argue that you had good reasons for late notification then your MR request will obviously need to be different  - that would be under regulation 36 of the same regulations.

Good luck. 

Will 

pigeon55

Thanks for your reply.