Benefit revisions how will they affect us?
24/03/2013 07:20From 8 April 2013 the Government is introducing a new benefit called Personal Independence Payment (PIP) to replace Disability Living Allowance (DLA) for eligible working age people aged 16 to 64.
Disability Living Allowance will end for everyone of working age even if they have an indefinite period award. By working age we mean everyone who is aged 16 to 64 on the day Personal Independence Payment is introduced.There are no current plans to replace Disability Living Allowance for children under 16 and people aged 65 and over who are already receiving Disability Living Allowance.Personal Independence Payment is based on an assessment of individual need. The new assessment will focus on an individual’s ability to carry out a range of key activities necessary to everyday life. Information will be gathered from the individual, as well as healthcare and other professionals who work with and support them. Most people will also be asked to a face to face consultation with a trained independent assessor as part of the claim process.
- April 2013 – Personal Independence Payment will be introduced for new claims in Merseyside, North West England, (This has been put back to mid summer) Cumbria, Cheshire and North East England. During this period new claimants in all other parts of the country will continue to claim Disability Living Allowance as now.
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June 2013 – new claims for Personal Independence Payment will be taken from all parts of the country.
Personal Independence Payment assessment timeline
From 8 April 2013
From 8 April 2013 new claims to PIP will be taken in the controlled start area in the North West and part of the North East of England. Postcodes affected are:
BL, CA, CH (except CH5, CH6, CH7 and CH8), CW, DH, DL (except DL6, DL7, DL8, DL9, DL10 and DL11), FY, L, LA (except LA2 7, LA2 8, LA6 2 and LA6 3), M, NE, PR, SR, TS (except TS9), WA and WN.
During this time we will not invite any existing DLA claimants to claim PIP. Nor will we allow claims from DLA recipients who are seeking to make an early application to PIP ("self-selectors").
From June 2013
In addition to the area covered by the controlled start new claims to PIP will be taken in all remaining areas of GB.
From October 2015
All the remaining claimants in receipt of a DLA award will be invited to make a claim for PIP. We will randomly select those recipients of DLA in receipt of an indefinite award or a fixed term award, and notify them about what they need to do to claim PIP. We will invite claims as early as possible from recipients who have turned 65 after 8 April 2013, when PIP was first introduced
Table 2: Reassessed DLA cases by likely outcome of award under PIP by October 2015 (prior to start of managed reassessment) Likely outcome under PIP |
Number of reassessed DLA recipients |
Award increased |
150,000 |
Award unchanged |
80,000 |
Award decreased |
160,000 |
No award |
170,000 |
Total |
560,000 |
From these figures we can expect to see an increase in acess on and around the key dates in the P.I.P. process in April, June and October. The worrying factor is is in the governments table shown above where the awards decreased figure is greater than the increase, as each of those people represent a major drop in living standards and income, and could be a potential access candidate for a foodbank.
All information taken from the DWP website