My experience from start to finish…

so I was advised by my housing association that I should apply… I had no idea about PIP or why I should apply? Anyway, they explained it and that day, I called and requested a paper application.

It arrived roughly ten days later and an income advisor from my HA visited me at home to help me complete it. He basically just wrote everything I said.

roughly 3 weeks after that I had a confirmation text that they’d received my form and I thought no more of it due to being told about the long waiting times. I literally wasn’t expecting to hear a thing for at least 6+ months.

To my surprise, a week later I got a text from a healthcare company advising me they were dealing with my application and I didn’t need to contact them.

Roughly 2 weeks later, I had a phone call out of the blue, from a number I didn’t recognise. I usually don’t answer to those calls but for some reason I did. It was a health care professional telling me to avoid travelling he was going to do my assessment there and then on the phone!

It went on for roughly 30 minutes and after the call I literally fell to pieces. I was in a way glad that I didn’t get a warning and it was out of the blue because my anxiety would have cripple waiting for that call.

2 days later, I had a text to say that the report had been submitted and they were reviewing my case.

5 days after that, I got a text to say I’d been awarded PIP! I rang the PIP line and found out I got enhanced DL and standard mobility. My back pay came a week later.

my experience was so fast and straight forward which I was shocked about due to the stories I’d heard.

Basically, I think they have outsourced a lot of their work to these private healthcare companies so it seems that the awful waiting times are becoming a thing of the past.

Good luck to you all and hope this is helpful!