Safety and supervision: changes to PIP law from 9 March 2017
Updated 26 November 2024
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Background
When applying for Personal Independence Payment (PIP), the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) assesses the impact that any disabilities and health conditions have on your ability to live an independent life.
In PIP assessments, your ability is assessed or measured against a number of everyday activities and whether you can complete those activities:
- safely
- to an acceptable standard
- repeatedly
- within a reasonable time period
We also consider whether you need supervision for some activities.
Change to PIP law
From 9 March 2017, there was a change to the way DWP considers if you can complete a PIP activity safely and if you need supervision by considering both:
- the likelihood of the harm occurring
- the severity and nature of the harm that might occur
What this means for you
We are looking at all current PIP claims to check if this change means you may be eligible for more support under PIP.
We are also looking again at claims we decided on or after 9 March 2017 where we did not award PIP.
We will not look at your PIP claim again if you have been getting the enhanced rate of both the daily living and mobility parts of PIP since 9 March 2017.
Once we have looked at the claim again we will write to you to let you know the outcome. Because of the large number of cases that DWP will need to review, it may take some time for you to get this letter.
You may not get more PIP under this change. If we decide that you should get more PIP then your award will usually be backdated to 9 March 2017, or if you claimed PIP after 9 March 2017, backdated to the date you started getting PIP.
We are not planning to invite you to a face-to-face assessment as part of this review.
The change to how safety and supervision is considered is a result of an Upper Tribunal judgment on safety and supervision.
You can apply for PIP again if you think you may now be eligible. The change to PIP law will apply to all new claims.
Help with PIP
You can contact a local support organisation or Citizens Advice to get help understanding PIP.