Transfer from DLA to PIP

[feellikeanalien]

DD turned 16 in September and I have just completed a PIP form for her. I am her appointee but I was wondering if anyone has any idea whether it is likely that they will want to interview her.

She would not come across well in an interview and if asked anything would probably just say she was fine. She struggles to understand anything other than simple questions and would definitely not cope with a telephone interview.

DD has LD and is also currently being assessed for ASD. She also has a neurological condition which means that she is much younger mentally and emotionally than 16.

Just wondering if it is usual for children who have previously been in receipt of DLA to be interviewed or if anyone has had any experience of this.

Only a minority of assessments are F2F. The majority are paper based or virtual or via the phone. Don’t worry about a phone call, as appointee, you will be able to speak on the phone on her behalf.

Thanks for that. It's very reassuring. I'm not expecting to hear anything for a while but just wanted to be prepared.

Just came across this thread as I was previously on dla page. My son was also 16 in Aug so we have applied for pip. We had a telephone assessment today with a health practitioner specialising in special needs. The whole call lasted over an hour.
Although I'm his appointee and they have texted my phone they called my sons number. However my son doesn't answer calls he don't recognise so passed me the ohone to answer. From research I think this may have been a way of them checking re: his anxiety around speaking with new people (along with other diagnosis)
Should hear back in approx 8 weeks as details would be passed to case manager today. The form was very difficult to relate some of the queatiom for a 16 year old with severe needs.

I actually had a call late last Friday afternoon from an HCP who said she would like to call me back in an hour's time when she had read all the paperwork, which didn't exactly fill me with confidence. DD has a rare neurological condition and she had never heard of it so I had to explain it to her.

I was on the phone for quite some time and she said that DD was likely to get PIP and I would hear from the DWP within 4/6 weeks.

I was quite surprised as I had only submitted the form at the end of October. It was a horrible form to fill in. I asked a friend who works in welfare rights to look through it before I submitted it and she advised me to include things I hadn't even thought of.

The whole process is grim and she was asking me whether DD was going to be doing GCSE's or A Levels. Having read what I had written on the form it would have been pretty obvious that she would be unable to do that. I will believe that DD is getting PIP when I get the final letter but not before.

Hope that you get a positive outcome.

I completed DS’s (asd and LD) pip form in March when he turned 16
i sent in about 20 pieces of evidence along with the completed form- hospital consultants letters, copy of of his echp, school targets, copies of cahms letters etc
in august I got a letter to say I had provided enough evidence, so they had assessed him from the paperwork and he was being awarded the full amount without the need to see/speak to an assessor

That must have been a relief. I wonder if they don't tend to interview children who have already been in receipt of DLA.

DD would never have been able to cope with being interviewed so I'm glad that hasn't happened.

I did ask them if they needed more information as I'd just had the clinical psychologist's report from DD's ASD assessment but they said they had enough. Just waiting from the letter from the DWP now.

Some DC who are in receipt of DLA do have a phone, virtual or F2F assessment. Not all are paper based. Although appointees can speak for those with appointees.

When a child transfers to PIP is it payable direct to them?

Depends on whether they have an appointee or not.

Thank you. How can I ensure I’m my child’s appointee so that the money continues to come to me? He will spend it on shite and I use it for his actual needs, not wants!

A few months before DS is 16 DWP will write asking if an appointee is required. If DS can’t manage the claim himself you can then become his appointee.

Thank you. Will do.

Just to update. DD got PIP with enhanced rate on both daily living and mobility. Such a relief.

Hiya just wanted to ask that My daughter is going to be 16 next month and she recieves dla but now for pip I want to be her appointee. What valid reason I could give them for this. She does not have any sense of money or anything.

@Sara202q explain why DD is unable to manage the claim herself.

Bumping thread in case this is useful to anyone. We will be looking at the move in around 12 months time. So I am thinking ahead too.

This has been a really useful thread, thanks to PPs!

My daughter has had DLA since she was eligible (3 months old? I can't remember), and turned 16 in July. Her PIP form has gone in, and we have a telephone assessment on Tuesday morning. I am her appointee.

It's a relief to hear that as appointee I can speak for her at the assessment. A good chunk of her form was about deafness, speech difficulties and communication in general so I was astounded when we got a phone assessment! The letter I find very confusing - it says that if you're the appointee that you should read the letter as though it's directed to the applicant - which would indicate it's the applicant they want to talk to for the assessment. It's before school so she'll be around at the beginning of the call if necessary but she can't really use the phone and has limited insight into how her conditions affect her.

I'm also a bit baffled as to what we can spend an hour on the phone talking about which isn't already clearly set out on the form.

@JustAMiddleAgedDirtBagBaby lots of the questions will be around the form and wider daily life. Not all last an hour.

The HCP may tell you DD needs to answer the questions, but it isn’t true.

@JustAMiddleAgedDirtBagBaby I think what they mean when they say that you should read the letter as though it's directed to the applicant is that although it is addressed to you as an appointee the responses they are looking for are as if they were talking directly to the applicant (if that makes sense). The assessor I spoke to never asked to speak to DD and she has never had to deal directly with the DWP .

I am convinced it takes such a long time because they often don't read the documents in any detail. I had to explain exactly what DD's neurological condition was as they had never heard of it. Also, as I mentioned in a previous post, I was asked if she was going to do GCSEs although it would have been quite clear from the paperwork that she was never going to be in a position to do so. They are basically going over what you have said in the application and in some cases asking for clarification.

I was incredibly anxious before the call as I had heard so many bad stories but I think if you stick to the facts and ask them to explain any questions you are unsure of you should be ok.

At the end of the day I still think it's a bit of a lottery as to who you get but it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be.

Thank you, that's very helpful. I've kept a copy of the form so I am planning to have that in front of me and take it from there.

All done; 1h 15 mins. Interestingly, when she said her questions were finished and asked if I had any questions, I asked about the decision making process.

She said that the form you fill in is there to act as a guide for the assessor as to what questions to ask and what areas to cover, and although the form is available to the decision maker, the decision is made mostly on the basis of the assessor's report and the supporting evidence you've sent in.

I don't know if this is correct (and I think the paperwork implies they look at the form as well) but it meant I then went through some stuff from the form I didn't feel she'd asked me about just to make sure it had all been covered. Obviously I've no idea if she noted that down and it will be part of her report but I could hear her taking notes so hopefully it will.

Update here - DD has been awarded PIP at the enhanced rate for both daily living and mobility. Even more importantly, in my book, she's not due for review until 2033.

Given last time we had a DLA renewal they decided (in the face of all the same information) that she didn't qualify for mobility at all I am pleasantly surprised. (We had to get a mandatory reconsideration at that time which was successful but meant I was braced to go all the way to tribunal with this one).

That's great news@JustAMiddleAgedDirtBagBaby . Such a relief that you don't have to go through it again until 2033.

Hi , if you are the appointee do they speak to you or need to speak to DD when they do a phone assessment

When we had DD's assessment they didn't ask to speak to her at all as I'm her appointee. Don't know if that's always the case but I presume so as you have been appointed to deal with her benefits.