Disability Living Allowance
A claim to Disability Living Allowance can no longer be made by anyone over the age of 16. The Personal Independence Payment (PIP) benefit would be claimed instead. Everyone with claims to DLA will be asked to reapply for PIP with a target of September 2017 for all claims to have been reassessed. Please see the page on Personal Independence Payments for information on that benefit. Any supported person who currently has a claim for DLA will continue to receive that benefit without any changes until they are invited to apply for PIP.
When the person (or appointee) receives the letter inviting them to apply for PIP they will also be given a date that the DLA will end. Don’t ignore the letter. You’ll need to make a claim for PIP within 4 weeks or your DLA will be suspended, which means you’ll stop receiving the money. If you still haven’t made a claim for PIP after 8 weeks, your DLA will be stopped.
When a PIP claim has been made, DLA will continue in payment until the claim has been assessed and a decsion has been made.
If you have a motability vehicle
If you have a vehicle through the motability scheme, there’s no guarantee that you’ll be able to keep it when you apply for PIP. To keep it, you’ll need to be assessed as needing the enhanced rate of mobility. This is the highest rate, but the criteria for this is different to the higher rate of mobility in DLA. Please see information on the PIP page.
If you’re not entitled to the enhanced rate of mobility, you’ll have to return your motability vehicle. Depending on how long you’ve had your vehicle, you may be entitled to compensation from the Motability scheme. You can keep your vehicle for up to 7 weeks from the date of the DWP decision letter. There should not be any issue with the vast majority of the people we support who have Motability vehicles.
Please feel free to contact head office if you would like to discuss any aspect of DLA.
