Ds got dla from when he was a baby up until age 10. Then turned down at renewal, despite no changes. Lost at tribunal. Awful experience, made me feel like i was screaming but nobody was listening. I thought PIP would be different but i was scared of being made to feel like that again. He was diagnosed with autism after a 16 year fight. Finally i plucked up the courage to phone DWP. They say i can't apply on his behalf unless i am his appointee. To apply to be his appointee i have to wait 5 weeks for a phone call, then wait for an appointment, where they will assess whether i am "suitable". Ds can't speak to strangers so not sure how they are going to do this. Then they have to make a decision and finally i will get the form to fill in. If my son gets PIP, it will be backdated to the day they send the form out, not the day i phoned dwp. Saving the DWP £500 minimum. Multiply that by every person getting PIP who has an appointee (which is probably most of them) and that's a lot of money.
I know that it's important to make sure that vulnerable people are not being financially abused by their appointees. But with ds not able to speak to them (which i told them) it's pointless anyway. If they backdated it to my original phone call i wouldn't mind.