Your Guide to PIP (Personal Independence Payment)

The government’s Personal Independence Payment (PIP) is an assistance payment that helps individuals with the costs of living with a long term health condition or disability. It has replaced the Disability Living Allowance (DLA) that has long been in use, and will apply to people aged 16 and over. If your child receives payments and is under 16 they will continue to receive DLA. You will also continue to receive DLA if you were born on or before 8th April 1948.

Am I eligible for PIP?

You can get Personal Independence Payment (PIP) if you fit all of the following criteria:

you’re 16 or over
you have a long-term physical or mental health condition or disability
you have difficulty doing certain everyday tasks or getting around
you expect the difficulties to last for at least 12 months from when they started

How to claim Personal Independence Payment

If you are currently receiving DLA, this will continue until the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) contacts you to tell you when your DLA payments will end. They will then invite you to apply for PIP.

Alternatively, you can apply by calling the ‘PIP new claims’ phone line on 0800 917 2222. You will need to give the following information:

your contact details, for example telephone number
your date of birth
your National Insurance number, if you have one (you can find this on letters about tax, pensions and benefits)
your bank or building society account number and sort code
your doctor or health worker’s name, address and telephone number
dates and addresses for any time you’ve spent in a care home or hospital
dates for any time you spent abroad for more than 4 weeks at a time, and the countries you visited

At this point you will be sent a form called ‘How your disability affects you’. It is important to fill in this form with care and provide as much detail as possible to accurately represent your daily life and how it is affected by a long term health condition.

You may be required to undergo a medical assessment if necessary and this will be completed by a fully trained health professional who will ascertain your needs. The assessment is designed to gauge how your everyday activities are affected by your condition.

If you are awarded PIP you will be reassessed regularly to further accommodate any changes in your condition.

How much are Personal Independence Payments?

There are two components that are factored into PIPs.

The Daily Living component applies to you if you need help with daily tasks such as cleaning, cooking and dressing

The Mobility component applies to you if you need aid when on the move, either via motor transport, walking frames, mobility scooters or wheelchairs

Both components are split into rates, known as the standard rate and the enhanced rate. It is possible to receive money for both components, at the standard or enhanced rates. Here is a table of payments.

	Standard weekly rate (2022)	Enhanced weekly rate (2022)
Daily Living component	£61.85	£92.40
Mobility component	£24.45	£64.50

Moving from DLA to PIP

The Department for Work and Pensions expect all people who qualify for DLA to qualify for PIP. However, the two payment systems use different criteria to assess daily living and mobility issues, so it is possible that you will be entitled to a higher or lower payment than before the change, or no payment at all. The DWP are not anticipating large shifts in income or sudden losses of income, due to the similarity in criteria used to assess your entitlement to payments.

Other useful information for PIPs

All allowances, benefits and pensions will be paid into a bank account and not distributed by other means, such as by cheque
You can get an exemption on vehicle tax or a 50% discount if you qualify for PIP mobility criteria
You must be resident in the UK, Ireland, Isle of Man or the Channel Islands to receive PIP or be stationed abroad with the armed forces
Decisions on Personal Independence Payments take approximately 3 weeks
An appeals process is in place if you are unhappy with decisions regarding your Personal Independence Payments

For more information about Personal Independence Payments contact your local community support group or Citizens Advice for help in understanding the new payments system.

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