Hello, I'm Tarun! I'm a dialysis patient + need help with how to claim benefits i.e. PIP.

Tarun

I am a dialysis patient and need to think about claiming Benefits like PIP, DLA and others. Have never needed to access state help and feel ashamed that I may need to now. I am relatively young with a young family. Was in a very good job but now with the pandemic am scratching around for work. The last few years shave been very hard and savings are depleting fast.
Need help with what to claim, the process, etc.
Can anyone help?

janer1967

Hi and welcome to the community 

Dla is an old benefit and not available for new claims 

Pip has replaced it 
I suggest you read up about it lots info on our pip section or on gov website 

There is too much to explain the process as there is quite a bit to it 

For other benefits it depends on your household circumstance I suggest you do a benefits calculator also on the gov website which will help you to see what you may get 

Its only as good as the info you put in 

Another alternative is to contact welfare rights or cab 

If you have any specific questions then please feel free to ask 

Cher_Alumni

Hello @Tarun and a warm welcome to our community, how are you doing today?

I'm sorry to hear you're undergoing dialysis treatment, how's that going?  

Please don't feel ashamed about claiming benefits.  They are there to help people in difficult situations, and there is no stigma to accessing what you're entitled to and making life that bit easier to manage. 

Firstly, I'd recommend using an online benefits calculator, such as Turn2us Benefits calculator, to get an indication of what you might be able to claim.  For more personalised and in-depth advice however, you can speak with someone trained in welfare in your area for free, by visiting the Advice Local website and entering your postcode and selecting 'Welfare benefits' from the drop down list.  This will bring up a list of organisations on the next page to contact.

As mentioned, Personal Independence Payment (PIP) might be something you'd want to explore claiming.  To be successfully awarded PIP, you would need to score 8 - 11 points for standard rate or 12+ points for enhanced rate of either component, with there being 2 components, namely - daily living and mobility.  Here's Scope's webpage about PIP for more information.  Whilst, here's a link the the Citizens Advice 'PIP table of activities, descriptors and points' so you can familiarise yourself with the activities and begin to look at where you believe you should score points.  

Just to note, pip.info advise that:

To be assessed as able to carry out an activity to the level described in a descriptor, a claimant must satisfy the descriptor “reliably”, that is: safely, to an acceptable standard, repeatedly and in reasonable time.

So, where you believe you couldn't carry out an activity/descriptor reliably, you would be deemed unable to do it.

I appreciate this is a lot of information that can be really perplexing when you're new to claiming PIP so please ask away with any other questions and consider accessing specialist support via Advice Local.

Just to let you know, I've tweaked the title of your thread to help make it more visible to others and also moved it to our 'What benefits am I entitled to?' category.  Take care and I hope you have a lovely weekend.

calcotti

Just to add to what has been said

PIP is a benefit that could provide financial support if your health condition limits your ability to carry out the specified activities to the required standard. Be aware that the claim process takes several months and you do not get paid anything until a decision has been made (although it is then backdated).

More immediate financial help may be available through Universal Credit which is a benefit for anybody on a low income based on their household circumstances. If you are not working and not receiving Statutory Sick pay you mmy be eligible for new style ESA if you have a complete NI record for the tax years 2018-19 and 2019-20.