People claiming Personal Independence Payments (PIP) and who are due an award review, should receive a letter from The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) from the end of this month. The government department recently confirmed that from September it would automatically be extending existing Personal Independence Payment (PIP) awards awaiting review from the current three months by up to 12 months. It added that it would do this 35 days before the award is due to end and will be issuing letters to affected claimants at the end of this month.
PIP is a payment designed to help with extra living costs if you have both a long-term physical or mental health condition or disability and difficulty doing certain everyday tasks or getting around because of your condition. In June, the former Secretary of State for the DWP and now Deputy Prime Minister, Therese Coffey, told a cross-party panel of MPs new claims for PIP had reached ‘record’ levels and ‘never been so high’.
However, according to Daily Record, the knock-on effect of this increase in demand for the disability benefit has resulted in a backlog of people waiting for a health assessment. The publication noted that according to figures obtained by Chris Stephens MP, who is a member of the Work and Pensions Committee, there are now 312,470 people across the UK waiting for an assessment.
