Client receiving DLA - invitation to apply for PIP

I have a client who has called PIP to register a claim but is already in receipt of DLA.  The client did not realise that you couldn’t claim both.  The client was not asked when she called whether her condition had changed - just whether she wanted an invitation letter or to make a claim over the phone.  She opted to receive an invitation letter but was not aware of the implications of doing this (ie that she now might have to apply for PIP and lose her DLA).
DRH states that DWP can only invite you to claim PIP if they receive information from the client about a change in her care or mobility needs, which has not happened.  They can also obviously send an invitation letter when a fixed-period award is ending or at “random”.

Is it possible to cancel, ignore or challenge this invitation letter, on the basis that there is no COC?

Many thanks

Hi CAA - it is my understanding that, irrespective of what your client was trying to do, once an invite has been triggered for PIP conversion the process cannot be reversed

I’d agree, as Judge Mitchell put it in CPIP/2225/2015 - ‘Once the notice was issued [using the general power to issue a notice], [the claimant] became a transfer claimant and was on a legal conveyor belt towards termination of his DLA…’ (here’s the rightsnet summary of the decision)

Yes, that was my client. All he did was ring to enquire as to what the process would be when it came to his turn to claim. That triggered the PIP form. Judge Mitchell agreed that was an error but once triggered there is legally no way out.

I understand the DWP is getting quite close to the end of the migration process so it is likely that your client would have been reassessed for PIP in the next few months anyway if that’s any consolation…