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DS1500 and the new SR1 form
Morning everyone,
I have posted about this before but it is still causing confusion in our area with conflicting advice. Does anyone know if there is a date the DS1500 will no longer be accepted? We are still using up our supplies of paper DS1500s to avoid wasting them and the benefit still gets awarded under the special rules for terminal illness.
Any advice or thoughts would be really helpful.
Hi - I can ask via the stakeholder forum and let you know when I hear
That would be fantastic Daphne, thank you so much!
Unless you manage to get paper copies of the SR1 form from the doctor, DWP aren’t interested in enabling WRO’s to deal with these anymore. We’ve just received this response when we enquired about the digital-first approach.
Thank you for your email and opportunity to clarify the Department’s approach to SR1s now they have replaced DS1500s.
While introducing the SR1 form the DWP has looked to update existing processes for providing medical evidence rather than introduce new processes. Therefore, similar to the DS1500, SR1s can be provided to the Department in three ways:
1) A clerical paper SR1, clinicians can request paper copies and post the completed SR1 to the DWP. More details on how to order paper copies can be found on the guidance on GOV.UK http://www.gov.uk/dwp/special-rules.
2) NHS Spine Portal, clinicians in England can use the digital SR1 form to provide the SR1 direct to DWP.
3) Email the PDF e-SR1 to DWP, clinicians can request and return the e-SR1 directly to the DWP using .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
The intention is provide the most opportunity for clinicians to provide SR1s and these ‘routes’ replicate the previous methods available to provide a DS1500. Our preferred method is using the email address as it supports processing the claim as quickly as possible but SR1s provided in either of the other ‘routes’ will be processed as a priority once received by the Department.
The .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) inbox, similar to the previous DS1500 inbox, operates a trusted partner email system. This is to ensure that the SR1 has been completed by a clinician and given the exemptions applied to claims made under the Special Rules, the Department needs to be assured that it’s been completed by a relevant clinician.
If clinicians would prefer to complete a paper copy they can order clerical SR1s using the link above.
While we appreciate the work that welfare rights team’s do to support people nearing the end of their lives, the quickest way to provide medical evidence is for the clinician who completes the SR1 to send it directly to the DWP include. Once it’s been sent to DWP, we will apply it to the corresponding claim.
To say we’re less than impressed is putting it mildly. The case that prompted this, the doctor sent the SR1 form to our adviser without the NINO so DWP wouldn’t have been able to process the form but when our adviser tried, they couldn’t find anyway to forward on once they had included these details so they had to send it back to the doctor and hope they would then forward it to DWP - it’s ridiculously inflexible.
That would be fantastic Daphne, thank you so much!
They’ve come back very quickly but without anything too definite -
I’ve been in touch with leads in this area and they are unable to confirm an end date re the use of the DS1500.
I can confirm however that if a date is identified, we will liaise with our external stakeholders so you will be updated.
Obvioulsy if we get told an end date I’ll post it here :)
Thanks for the info Paul and the update from the DWP Daphne. That’s all so helpful.