Millions of people in the UK could be eligible to claim Personal Independence Payments (PIP) worth over £600 a month because they have one of 19 conditions.
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) pays out the money to assist with costs incurred due to having long-term physical or mental health conditions or disabilities. In spite of the essential support that the benefit provides, many are dissuaded from claiming due to the notoriously strict application process and it takes up to five months to make a new claim.
Roughly seven in ten people are rejected, according to disability equality charity Scope. About 2.8 million people claimed PIP as of October 2021. The majority of disabling conditions recorded in claims were either psychiatric disorders or musculoskeletal diseases (general).
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Your eligibility for the payment comes down to the impact that your illness or disability has on your life, regardless of employment, savings or circumstances.
If you need assistance with daily living, such as household and personal tasks like eating, making money decisions or socialising, you could get a weekly payment of £60 at the lower end of the scale, or a higher rate of £89.60. A second mobility element of the benefit means eligible claimants are paid a lower rate of £23.70 per week or a higher rate of £62.55 if they need assistance leaving their home, or navigating outside or within their home.
It is not required that you have a physical disability to claim the mobility aspect of PIP.
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To be eligible to claim PIP, you must:
have a long-term condition expected to last for a minimum of 12 months
be 16 years old or older, and younger than the State Pension age
generally be living in England, Scotland or Wales
have lived in England, Scotland or Wales for two of the last three years, unless you have recently returned from the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein
There are numerous conditions that make people eligible to claim PIP, with the top claims reaching £608 per month.
A range of general categories that the DWP lists as the main disabilities being claimed for:
- Haematological Disease - 5,877
- Infectious disease - 4,718
- Malignant disease - 79,073
- Metabolic disease - 4,279
- Psychiatric disorders - 995,774
- Neurological disease - 352,701
- Visual disease - 50,852
- Hearing disorders - 28,677
- Cardiovascular disease - 66,474
- Gastrointestinal disease - 21,879
- Diseases of the liver, gallbladder, biliary tract - 8,902
- Skin disease - 16,955
- Musculoskeletal disease - 882,904
- Autoimmune disease (connective tissue disorders) - 18,155
- Genitourinary disease - 18,942
- Endocrine disease - 30,083
- Respiratory disease - 116,479
- Multisystem and extremes of age - 928
- Diseases of the immune system - 851
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