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Can DLA claim form be considered as a PIP claim?
Hi All,
If a DLA form was sent out to Cl in Jan 2014 and that form was completed and returned. Can a decision maker consider the claim as a PIP claim or should a PIP claim form be sent to the Cl to complete?
Cl’s claim was up for renewal in January 2014. A DLA renewal form was sent out to the Cl before October 2013, however, Cl did not receive the form. In January they sent out a further DLA form, which was completed and returned. Then in March 2014 the DWP sent out a PIP claim, which Cl also completed and returned. Now DWP are stating they can only backdate the claim from March 2014?
Is this right?
was the january DLA claim form a renewal or new claim? If renewal when did old clqaim for DLA run out/ and last question if it was supposed to be a PIP claim in january where did you get the DLA claim form from?
What happened to the DLA claim made in January? If it is still awaiting determination, any award of DLA should run until the PIP claim is decided. If it was refused, your client would have to go through the MR/appeal process. A backdate of PIP wouldn’t be appropriate in those circumatances. If the DWP sent out a DLA form but later decided that PIP should have been claimed instead, I think it would be reasonable for them to treat that claim as a PIP claim. Its a matter of Secretary of State discretion. I know for a while during the intitial pilot period the DWP was treating DLA forms as claims for PIP, so they can do it if they want to.
Hi,
Sorry for late reply I have been on annual leave.
Thanks for your responses
The claim was a renewal claim. Apparently a renewal claim form was sent out to the Cl 6 months before his DLA was due to expire, however, he states that he did not receive the claim form. As a result of not completing a renewal claim form his DLA stopped on 7th January 2014.
Cl contacted the DWP to explain that he did not receive the renewal claim and was sent out a DLA claim form in January 2014, which he completed and sent back. However, in March 2014 the DWP sent out a PIP claim form and said that Cl would need to complete a PIP claim form because they cannot consider the DLA form as PIP, confused? Yes, so am I!
Now the DWP are stating they can only consider the claim from March 2014.
Hi,
Sorry for late reply I have been on annual leave.
Thanks for your responses
The claim was a renewal claim. Apparently a renewal claim form was sent out to the Cl 6 months before his DLA was due to expire, however, he states that he did not receive the claim form. As a result of not completing a renewal claim form his DLA stopped on 7th January 2014.
Cl contacted the DWP to explain that he did not receive the renewal claim and was sent out a DLA claim form in January 2014, which he completed and sent back. However, in March 2014 the DWP sent out a PIP claim form and said that Cl would need to complete a PIP claim form because they cannot consider the DLA form as PIP, confused? Yes, so am I!
Now the DWP are stating they can only consider the claim from March 2014.
If they have sent out a PIP2 questionnaire - which is not a PIP claim form - then I think that they are wrong about the date of claim (or at least have the discretion to award PIP from January). Once your client’s DLA ran out there was still the discretion to accept a DLA claim (PIP (TP) Reg 22(2) as amended by SI 2013/2689). However, I’m not aware of them exercising that discretion in any individual case (it would be a much easier ask if the form was returned but went missing, and you had a post record at the bureau, for example…)
If they don’t accept the DLA claim, they are effectively saying there is can be no entitlement to DLA, and at that point there is a further discretion to treat the DLA claim as a claim for PIP (Reg 25 of SI 2013/380 - note that if this happens the date of claim is the date of the DLA claim). However, the decision to not treat it as a PIP claim is one against which there is no right of appeal (Sch 3 para 1(b) of SI 2013/381) so that would require a JR if the effective date of the PIP claim is March when you get an entitlement decision (surely you haven’t had one yet, right?)
It does seem a little perverse to refuse to exercise both discretions, when it is obvious by January that the client is trying to claim a disability benefit of some kind. My guess, reading between the lines, is that this is possibly advice from helpline staff and not a DM, so a nice letter with a nudge towards the Regs referenced above might just get it sorted without any legal unpleasantries. It will also help you while away the time until a decision is made (or just delay it further as someone then has to go and look at the actual law…)
Jon