PIP extended even with 4 years left.

worried33

DWP just sent me a letter stating they extended my award even when I still had 4 years left. This seems to indicate they anticipate the assessment problems continuing for several years. I hope this information is useful to others.

cupcake88

Oh really that’s good I haven’t had any letter from them saying mines as been extended mines got another year and abit left . 

OverlyAnxious

I wonder if they've just extended everyone's rather than trying to pick out individuals.  4 years seems a bit much if not.

I'm still waiting for my extension letter, despite others ending the same month already receiving theirs.

janer1967

I had mine today too I had award till 2025 and they have extended till 2026 

Think it a bit early to need to extend that far but not complaining 

Tho I know it.diesnt mean a lot they can still review before this 

Ross_Scope

Thanks for the update @worried33

That's an interesting speculation (that they're going to extend most people's due to the backlog) but I guess we will see.

mikehughescq

Had a glut of them this week. They’re prioritising existing claims but pushing lots if 5 year awards back a year to make it a but easier when they finally come to the last lot of DLA to PIP conversions.

MarkN88

janer1967 said:

I had mine today too I had award till 2025 and they have extended till 2026 

Think it a bit early to need to extend that far but not complaining 

Tho I know it.diesnt mean a lot they can still review before this 

My mum received the letter this morning too. She got given a 5 year award so it’s not due to end until October 2025 and it’s been extended until September 2026. 

The letter mentions:

”We suspended PIP award reviews because of covid”

and 

“We have now begun reviewing PIP awards again and we may look at some awards later than we originally planned. To make sure that you still receive your payments we have extended your award”

I’m guessing they anticipate they might not be able to review on the anticipated review date that was set so they are extending them as a precaution maybe? 

worried33

My extension (I think) was only a few months, I havent got my original award letter to hand but I think it was around spring 2025, and now its end of september 2025.

Ok it was a year.  I have a photo of it (as had to make it as proof for disability train ticket), and original award was July 2024 end date.

I thought my claim started last year but was 2019, lost track of time.

woodbine

As I have said a number of times looks like thousands of these extensions have ben sent out. but beware you are still likely to get renewal forms sent to you 6 months before the original end date.
I think we can safely assume they have looked at the number of DLA to PIP claims are still outstanding, plus the number of 16 year olds to be transferred (that's ongoing), the number of new claims and of course the number of renewals and thought oh **** we had better extend loads of claims.

cupcake88

Well looks like I have been left out I haven’t received any thing .  I hope they haven’t forgot me . My award is due to end June 2022. 

janer1967

@cupcake88 dont worry about it still plenty of time yet 

woodbine

@cupcake88 the post seems to be slow atm so might arrive next week?

cupcake88

Thanks xx

woodbine

@cupcake88 your welcome

kami24

I haven't received mine yet. Been on pip for 3 years award ends May 2022. Mental illness so daily living etc.someone I knew received there's so maybe it's only certain individuals 

lisathomas50

@Ross_Scope glad my review was done a year early then 

worried33

cupcake the post is a mess at the moment, and I only got this today, give it at least a few weeks.  Only a week ago I had post from December shoved through my letter box, was a massive backlog.

MarkN88

Yeah it may take a while, my mums letter was dated 4th and it’s only arrived today. 

worried33

I just checked mine its dated the 13th January. So post is very slow.

joethebear

Got my review form it was dated Jan 1 received it 10th says you've got a month to return but already lost 10days ! Got extension of 2weeks but I'm ready to return it now so will do 

janer1967

@joethebear good luck with your review 

Ross_Scope

Good luck @joethebear
 

joethebear

Thanks for support will keep you posted 

woodbine

lisathomas50 said:

@Ross_Scope glad my review was done a year early then 

why would it be a done year early? a year earlier than what ?
<confused.com>

lisathomas50

My pip wasn't due to be reviewed  until November 2021 but was done 20th November 2020 and was awarded on going which I have since been told is 10years 

woodbine

@lisathomas50 so are you above SRP age? with "light touch reviews" ?

lisathomas50

@woodbine I am onlyv58  i just got a letter saying my review had taken place and my award for ongoing  first time thry fone it that early the rest is normal 

woodbine

lisathomas50 said:

@woodbine I am onlyv58  i just got a letter saying my review had taken place and my award for ongoing  first time thry fone it that early the rest is normal 

so you didn't't fill any renewal forms in? haven't we been here before?...more than once ?

lisathomas50

No I didnt fill a form in 

woodbine

I should point out for the benefit of others that PIP cannot be renewed without filling in renewal forms and the renewal being assessed by HCP and the DWP.
Hope that clears that one up once and for all.

chiarieds

That's odd @lisathomas50 - due to the backlogs many current awards have been extended, yet yours was instead done not even 6 months, but 12 months early, & without even having to send a review form off; most odd. The rest of us sorry mortals do indeed have to complete & return a PIP renewal form.

lisathomas50

If your claim is marked as vulnerable  and there is no change to report the evidence that has already been submitted is used and an award is made  which has happend phone dwp and ask for yourself  before accusing  and a claim can be reviewed a year before or at any time they want to review 

cupcake88

No ones accusing any one of any thing it’s how it is you have to fill out a review form and it’s good that you didn’t have to Lisa but you usually have too and it’s good to treat the review as a new form and give as much info as you can . 

mikehughescq

woodbine said:

I should point out for the benefit of others that PIP cannot be renewed without filling in renewal forms and the renewal being assessed by HCP and the DWP.
Hope that clears that one up once and for all.

I’m afraid I disagree. Please see my post of the 19th in the thread at https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/377815#Comment_377815

woodbine

I'm afraid that in 99% of cases I would disagree, and we should bear in mind that most of the people who come here for help with PIP renewal would have had a PIP2 to complete, so I stand by my opinion, the interesting things is that the member above last week did suggest that they did complete said form.
And lets be honest a high % of PIP claimants are vulnerable in some way or the other.
But i've had my two penneth worth and I'm not getting back into last weeks arguments, life is to bloody short.

mikehughescq

woodbine said:

I should point out for the benefit of others that PIP cannot be renewed without filling in renewal forms and the renewal being assessed by HCP and the DWP.
Hope that clears that one up once and for all.

Your assertion was that it “cannot”. My assertion is that not only that it can but that my experience at present is that we’re seeing this weekly in small numbers. As we’re one service in one area it’s not unreasonable to conclude that DWP have increased the proportion of cases in which this happens quite considerably. Having already seen 2 posts on here this month suggesting it’s exactly what happened to them I think we can safely say that this is currently very much a thing and the chances of it happening, whilst currently small, are no longer vanishingly so and are increasing rapidly. 

mikehughescq

woodbine said:

I should point out for the benefit of others that PIP cannot be renewed without filling in renewal forms and the renewal being assessed by HCP and the DWP.
Hope that clears that one up once and for all.

Your assertion was that it “cannot”. My assertion is that not only that it can but that my experience at present is that we’re seeing this weekly in small numbers. As we’re one service in one area it’s not unreasonable to conclude that DWP have increased the proportion of cases in which this happens quite considerably. Having already seen 2 posts on here this month suggesting it’s exactly what happened to them I think we can safely say that this is currently very much a thing and the chances of it happening, whilst currently small, are no longer vanishingly so and are increasing rapidly. 

I do agree life is too short.

chiarieds

Thank you, Mike, as ever giving the benefit of your knowledge. I did look into the link you provided to rightsnet as I'm one of those pedantic people that read info the better to understand. So, from what you've said, & that link, I'm hoping I grasp this. It seems that someone might make a call on another person's behalf, & that in itself is sufficient to start a PIP review, & the person in question wouldn't necessarily get a PIP2 form. Then the DWP may go with info the info they had received some years prior, or just have a token assessment due to a person's 'vulnerability'.

Trying to remain objective, as I hope you know I do, on the balance of probabilities, would it seem likely that someone would make a call on behalf of someone else, one year before their PIP award was due to end?

lisathomas50

janer1967

Think this may be bit out of date ad it is now 6 months before in most cases and has been for a while now 

mikehughescq

chiarieds said:

Thank you, Mike, as ever giving the benefit of your knowledge. I did look into the link you provided to rightsnet as I'm one of those pedantic people that read info the better to understand. So, from what you've said, & that link, I'm hoping I grasp this. It seems that someone might make a call on another person's behalf, & that in itself is sufficient to start a PIP review, & the person in question wouldn't necessarily get a PIP2 form. Then the DWP may go with info the info they had received some years prior, or just have a token assessment due to a person's 'vulnerability'.

Trying to remain objective, as I hope you know I do, on the balance of probabilities, would it seem likely that someone would make a call on behalf of someone else, one year before their PIP award was due to end?

Yes, you’ve read that entirely correctly and I’m really pleased to know that someone reads links rather than merely accepting them as legit just because someone like me says so. That’s exactly what I’d want to happen.

Hard to quantify but the evidence so far is that there’s a mix of people who have made their own call (but who are such a mess medically that they may not recall doing so) and those for whom others definitely made the call e.g. adults with LD or very poor mental health. Fair to say this was all exceptional and so rare so as to have never been heard of up until now but when you have it mentioned abd corroborated on a Rightsnet thread that’s usually a good indication in itself that it’s ramping up nationally even if it’s only a discussion between two or three people initially. 

It does make sense DWP would do this given their staff numbers who are ill, caring, working from home etc. and with the number of outstanding DLA to PIP conversion cases being around the 200,000 mark when the initial plan was that they’d all be cleared by April 2017.

SOB

Why do I have a bad feeling about this extension to PIP, the DWP give in one hand then take it away with the other!
I've had the same letter as well, but just don't trust the DWP. By now all of the legacy benefits should have switched over to UE!
What about DLA, my review is long over the due date? I can imagine that there are a lot of worried ill folk out there, trying to hang on to PIP and DLA. So Covid - 19 is a mixed blessing. I'm close to retirement so both benefits will disappear and I will be
worse off! But I will be lucky to live that long.  

leeCal

@SOB you can still receive PIP after retirement age.

BrettW

I think the last 12 months have been a massive strain on everyone @SOB - us and the DWP.

I personally think these extentions that the DWP have put into place are a good idea because unltimately they do help protect people on these benefits. We also need to remember that even when this crisis is over that the backlog will simply not just disappear overnight and that it will still need to be worked through, whilst still dealing with new incoming claims.

I know its hard on everyone being surrounded by all this uncertainty but at least measures haver been put into place to try and ensure everyone still receives the benefits they are entitled to until this entire situation can be resolved.

leeCal

My review was due March 2021, I received an extension in October until October 2021, then I had a review form in the post in December and now I’ve been awarded. So I wouldn’t say my area was particularly behind. 

Ptsd4ever

I hope they haven't forgotten about me x my best friend got her extention letter 
I didn't 
Mine is to jan 2023 so i guess reassessment is jan 2022
Due to my anxiety disorder 
I have this date written and i keep worrying about it as if its a count down
I really hope i get this letter to put my mind to ease a bit
I even talked to my psychologist about it and she said thats my threat system taking over again... 
Wish me luck 

woodbine

@Ptsd4ever reviews are done 6 months before an award ends not 12 months, unless the award was made by tribunal in which case its 14 weeks.

Ptsd4ever

@woodbine thank you so much for addressing my concern
I haven't known that
All the articles i have read said they will send forms of reassessment a year before it ends
Thats reassuring 
Thanks alot xx