Millions of people who claim Personal Independence Payment could be owed thousands of pounds in backdated benefits from the Department for Work and Pensions.
Following a change in the law many claimants could be owed cash by the DWP, with the department already paying out £32 million in backdated claims.
The backdated payments are made under what is known as the LEAP review, which began in June 2018 and involves the DWP looking through the cases of approximately 1.6 million PIP claimants after it lost two landmark legal cases and had to amend its assessment guidance to decision makers - reports the Daily Record.
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Benefits and Work has now identified 21 conditions that are “most likely to lead to claimants being eligible for an award of PIP arrears” which could be worth thousands of pounds.
The independent online benefits forum has trawled through the ‘Equality Analysis PIP assessment criteria’ document which offers insight into who the DWP is likely to be looking at when considering arrears under the LEAP review.
Benefits and Work said: “The original estimate by the DWP that 160,000 people would be entitled to arrears was based on claimants who scored four points for mobility descriptor 1b - ‘Needs prompting to be able to undertake any journey to avoid overwhelming psychological distress to the claimant’ - before the MH judgement and who also had one of the conditions listed below.”
- Agoraphobia
- Alcohol misuse
- Anxiety and depressive disorders (mixed)
- Anxiety disorders
- Autism
- Bipolar affective disorder (Hypomania / Mania)
- Cognitive disorders
- Dementia
- Depressive disorder
- Drug misuse
- Learning disability
- Mood disorders
- Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD)
- Panic disorder
- Personality disorder
- Phobias
- Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
- Psychotic disorders
- Schizoaffective disorder
- Schizophrenia
- Stress reaction disorders
It should be acknowledged that this was just the DWP’s prediction of who is most likely to be eligible for back payments.
Benefits and Work is keen to stress that “just because your condition is not listed, that does not mean that you are not entitled to a back payment. Nor, if your condition is listed here does it mean that you are going to get an award.”
The DWP said: “We are looking at all current PIP claims to check if this change means you may be eligible for more support under PIP.
“We are also looking again at claims we decided on or after 28 November 2016 where we did not award PIP.
“We will not look again at your PIP claim if you have been getting the enhanced rate of both the daily living and mobility parts of PIP since 28 November 2016.”
What are the changes to assessment guidance?
From November 28, 2016 there was a change to the way the DWP considers how overwhelming psychological distress affects a claimant’s ability to plan and follow a journey - this decision is known as ‘MH’ .
From March 9, 2017 there was a change to the way the DWP considers if a claimant can complete a PIP activity safely and if supervision is required, by considering both the likelihood of harm occurring, and the severity and nature of the harm that might occur - this decision is known as ‘RJ’ .
Who could be affected by the change?
Since June 2018, the DWP has been searching for PIP claimants who may be entitled to back payments because their award was calculated incorrectly, under the previous assessment guidance.
The changes to PIP law affects how it decides claims for:
people who currently get PIP
people who applied for PIP in the past but do not currently get it
people moving from Disability Living Allowance (DLA) to PIP
These changes are a result of amendments to PIP law for:
Managing medication and monitoring a health condition - changes from 28 November 2016 to 15 March 2017
Safety and supervision - changes from 9 March 2017
Special diet as therapy - changes from 28 November 2016
Overwhelming psychological distress and planning journeys - changes from 28 November 2016
