Autism / pips

[Lilip87]

Hi all ,
not sure if on right section here or not but my son is awaiting assessment for autism had peadatric appointment last week and she said that all of my son's behaviours are fitting with being on the spectrum so she was forwarding him on for assessment . In the meantime we have been told we can apply to pips for him , however I didn't know where to start , what to put on the form etc and if he will even qualify as we both work ,not sure if it's worth the hassle really?

How old is he? If he is under 16 then it is dla you need to claim, phone them up and they should pop a form in the post or you might be able to download it online.
If 16 or over then pip, you have to phone them and he will have to speak to them, they then send a form out which he will need to fill in (you can offer support) and you need as much evidence to send of with it as you can.
You will then get a face to face interview (which you can attend with him) sometimes they will do it at your home but you will need to have good evidence why he would need this.
They will ask him questions and ask him to do a few tests.
Then it's a waiting game to find out if he will be entitled to it.
You working will not impact on him receiving dla/pip it is not means tested.

If he's under 16 it's dla, over 16 it's pip and he has to do it not you (you can help but they won't talk to you about his claim). Either way you need to go online initially to get started, then follow the process through. It's not that difficult but you need to word each question carefully to ensure to express the difficulty they have, plus you will need at least one professional to write a reference (you list them, they write to them) plus gather copies of relevant information. Top tip keep a copy of your application, they will call him for interview (pip definitely, dla sometimes) and it's helpful to remember what you type.

Many go to appeal but the process wasn't difficult, we won and got claim enhanced.

Just a word of warning, benefits don't care about the diagnosis, it's all about practical impact so think through - if they don't need assistance over a "normal" person of their age as a child they won't get the benefit, it's not easy to prove for younger kids