Anyone applying for Personal Independence Payments from the Government will need to provide evidence to support their claim - here is a list of documents you will be asked to send in.
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has detailed the evidence needed for a PIP claim. More than three million people in the UK receive the benefit, which pays up to £172.75 a week for the extra costs of dealing with a long-term health condition or disability.
People get PIP if they can show they are struggling with everyday tasks and getting around. It's usually paid every four weeks and is one of the Government payouts that are exempt from the benefit cap, reports BirminghamLive.
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After calling the PIP new claims line, applicants are sent a form called 'How your disability affects you' within two weeks and have one month to return it, unless they request extra time. To assist with the application, people are asked to send in documents that will help DWP staff come to a decision.
In its PIP guide, the DWP tells people it will help to assess an application if it has reports about the claimant from:
- specialist nurses
- community psychiatric nurses
- social workers
- occupational therapists
- GPs
- hospital doctors
- physiotherapists
- support workers
It will also be useful to have care or treatment plans from occupational therapists, social workers, community psychiatric nurses, and learning disability support teams. Other information that can help includes hospital discharge or outpatient clinic letters, a statement of special educational needs, a certificate of visual impairment, current repeat prescription lists, photographs or X-rays, letters about other benefits, and test results such as scans.
The DWP points out that letters from people who know the claimant are only helpful if they can provide additional insight that hasn't already been included. And it says some information does NOT help with a decision at all. This includes:
- general information or fact sheets about the claimant’s conditions that are not about them personally
- appointment cards or letters about medical appointments such as times, dates and directions
- information about tests they are going to have
- fact sheets about medication
The DWP says supporting information does not need to be recent but should be relevant to the claimant's current condition. It asks people to send any documents in the same envelope as the completed 'How your disability affects you' form. This means putting in copies of information that you already have to hand rather than delaying the process by requesting new paperwork from medical professionals.
Benefit officials said: "Claimants should only send in photocopies of things they already have available. They do not need to ask for other documents which might slow down the claim or for which they might be charged a fee – for example, from a GP. If we need this we’ll ask for it ourselves using the contact details the claimant provides on the form."
Any delay in sending evidence may mean it will take longer to make a decision on the PIP claim, or the applicant may have to attend a face-to-face consultation with a health professional when it may not have been necessary, the DWP warned. It could also mean the DWP not getting all the information needed to make the correct decision on the claim. To start a claim for PIP, go to the Government website.
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