Delay in DLA to PIP decision

My client was on LR Mob and Care DLA. He was ‘invited’ to apply for PIP in July 2019. He was in hospital for a couple of weeks in July so did not complete the PIP claim until August 2019. He then had a medical assessment cancelled so the whole process of assessment was delayed. He has now received a letter dated 14th March 2020 awarding him SR DL PIP from 15th April 2020 but no Mob from 13th August 2019. He accepts the level of award but feels aggrieved that, because of the delays with the whole process, he was not entitled to PIP from an earlier date. He realises that the difference between his previous award and current is about £10pw but, to him, this is a lot of money.

I have looked at the info re DLA to PIP awards in the Disability Rights Handbook and it would seem that the DWP decision is correct in terms of when the change takes effect. I’m assuming this but don’t know for certain when his DLA was due to end.

He wishes to submit a Mandatory Reconsideration of the decision. I have given him the usual warning about risking losing what he has been awarded but he wishes to pursue this on the basis of the date of the award rather than the level. I suggested that a complaint might be better because I assume there is then no risk of him losing the award but no doubt he would then just receive the usual rather bland response.

Just wondered if anyone can offer any advice/suggestions about how we could approach this. My client feels hard done by and wants to raise the matter in whatever way works best.

You can advise him there is no merit to challenging the date of the PIP award I’m afraid, it’s baked into the regulations.

Your DLA award continues until a decision is made on your PIP claim and the DLA award ends 4 weeks after the PIP decision. Your PIP award then starts from the day after.

Thanks Paul, that was pretty much my conclusion. I think a complaint may be more beneficial in that at least he can ‘vent’ about how he feels.

There was a case on this in the Court of Appeal - Worley v SSWP [2019] EWCA Civ 15 - which held that the rules are not discriminatory and this is fatal to your client’s argument.

Remember that the delay is there for the benefit of claimants generally. Most people will lose out from the transfer to PIP so preserving the existing award is to protect their position. For everyone who goes from LRM DLA to SRDL PIP, there is someone else who goes from HRC/HRM DLA to nothing.

Your client could try to complain; but in the scheme of things I don’t really think that six months between invitation letter and PIP award, including the period where the client was in hospital, is going to be viewed as an unreasonable delay meriting compensation.

Thanks Elliot. I did explain to him that if the change had been introduced earlier he would have lost the mobility element earlier. However he just sees the total amount he receives rather than the individual components, which I totally understand. He seems resigned to letting it drop, I gently pointed out that I’m sure the DWP has more than enough to deal with at present with the coronavirus outbreak and I think he took the point!