When assessing how much you can get from personal independence payment (PIP), it initially comes down to the two components of personal independence payment (PIP). We have the daily living component and the component, there are two rates of each component, the standard rate, and the enhanced rate. While you must satisfy the same number of points on each component, the amount of money you stand to receive is quite different.
Daily Living
Firstly, to understand the different rates you may be awarded, we need to understand how many points are needed to be entitled to the payments.
Scoring between 0 and 7 points will not be enough to satisfy an award, you will therefore not be entitled to any money for the daily living component.
If you score between 8 and 11 points, this will entitle you to the standard rate of the daily living component, it will trigger the base rate of payments for this award.
If you are to get the maximum amount of money for the daily living component, you need to score 12 points or more to be entitled to the enhanced rate.
For the standard rate of daily living, the payment will be £61.85 a week becoming a total of £247.40 a month. If we look at a full year, 52 weeks at a rate of £61.85 would be £3,216.20.
For the enhanced rate, the payments are slightly higher at £92.40 a week becoming a total of £369.60 for the month. If we again look at a full year of the enhanced rate of daily living, this would be £4,804.80.
You can start to see how a small difference between 11 points and 12 points can actually result in a large difference over the course of a year. It may be that you are on the incorrect award, we would be happy at that point to advise you on what your options are moving forward and how we may be able to get you from the standard rate to the enhanced rate.
The difference between the standard rate and the enhanced rate of the daily living component becomes £30.55 a week, £122.20 a month and £1,588.60 per year.
Mobility
Again, the same rules apply to the points required here and what these points will trigger in terms of your personal independence payment points.
Scoring between 0 and 7 points will not be enough to satisfy an award, you will therefore not be entitled to any money for the mobility component.
If you score between 8 and 11 points, this will entitle you to the standard rate of the personal independence payment mobility component, it will trigger the base rate of payments for this award.
If you are to get the maximum amount of money for the mobility component, you need to score 12 points or more to be entitled to the enhanced rate.
If you have been awarded the standard rate of the mobility component, you will trigger payments that begin with £24.45 a week becoming a total of £97.80 a month. For a period of 52 weeks, the standard rate will bring you £1,271.40.
For the enhanced rate of the mobility component, the award is worth a total of £64.50 a week becoming a total of £250.20 a month. For the entire year, the enhanced rate of the mobility component will pay you £3,354.00.
You can see how the difference is even greater for the mobility component than it is for the daily living component, let’s take a look at what the differences become for a week, a month and a year.
The difference between the standard rate and the enhanced rate of the mobility component becomes £40.05 for a week, £152.40 a month and a rather large £2,082.60 for the entire year.
Awards of both daily living and mobility
For the standard rate of both daily living and mobility, it could be worth £86.30 a week, £345.20 a month and a total of £4,487.60 for the year.
If you find yourself with the enhanced personal independence payment rate of both daily living and mobility, it could be worth £156.90 a week, £619.80 a month and £8,158.80 for the entire year.
Backdated Payments
The wait to get the first payment from the moment you called the DWP can often be long, for a claim you may be waiting 6 or 7 months, for a reconsideration it may be closer to 12 months and for an appeal we would expect an average of 14 months or more from the date of claim to a successful award. While that waiting period isn’t easy, when you are given an award the DWP will backdate this award to the date of claim which can often result in substantial arrears being received in the first payment.
The payments will then continue every 4 weeks after the initial payment of arrears.
Even if you can show that you would have scored the points needed for an award of personal independence payment (PIP) before you did make a claim, it is not possible under any circ*mstances to backdate your claim. Any award will date back to the date when you either phoned them to begin the claim or when you began an online claim. If you succeed with a claim and have a history of one or more failed claims, that could be a different matter. It is outside the scope of this article but search on our site for the article that explains how you might be able to re-open an old claim, whether you stopped at the claim stage, or after a mandatory reconsideration, or even after a tribunal appeal. It is only fair to say that most people will not be able to succeed with one of these ‘any time reviews’ but if the circ*mstances of your case do allow you to use this provision, the arrears could be significant.
An award of PIP can increase your entitlement to other benefits
One thing can lead to another with social security benefits, and having any award of the daily living component of personal independence payment (PIP) can trigger entitlement to additional employment and support allowance (ESA) or income support, but this does not apply to universal credit. Please note that the entitlement can be triggered but that since PIP and the other offices do not necessarily talk to each other, actually receiving payment of the extra money might need a phone call from you.
The extra elements that can be payable as part of your ESA or income support are called ‘premiums’ and there are many different premiums covering a variety of circ*mstances. We are talking specifically here about a ‘severe disability premium’ (SDP) being triggered by having an award of either the standard or the enhanced rate of the daily living component. No such premium is triggered by having a personal independence payment (PIP) mobility award. There are a number of other conditions that have to be met to get the SDP, including no one claiming carers allowance for looking after you and there being no ‘non-dependent’ living with you. If you are part of a couple, then in most cases, they would also have to be on a qualifying benefit, which excludes most couples. If you suspect that you have been missing out on the SDP, or the ‘enhanced disability premium’ that is triggered by having the enhanced rate of personal independence payment (PIP) daily living component, you should call either ESA or income support, as appropriate. Arrears of a premium should be paid back to when the personal independence payment (PIP) award started.
