What happens to your DWP PIP award once you hit state pension age

PIP is administered by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and supports people who live with a condition that affects their daily life and ability to get around.

There were more than 3.1 million people claiming PIP in October last year.

Britons can claim PIP if they are over 16 and have experienced difficulties for the past 12 months.

Claimants must be under state pension age if they’ve not received PIP before.

If someone is over the state pension age, they can apply for Attendance Allowance instead.

Entitlement to PIP does not stop when a claimant reaches state pension age or when they start to withdraw from their pension.

If someone claims PIP after state pension age, the DWP will usually give them an ‘indefinite award’. This means there’s no end date to their claim.

If someone is already getting PIP when they reach state pension age, the DWP will turn it into an indefinite award.

PIP claimants under the state pension age may be reviewed at any time – even if they have been awarded PIP for a fixed amount of time.

If an individual has received PIP before, they can still make a new claim if they were eligible for it in the year before they reached state pension age.

They can only claim PIP for a medical condition if either:

• they claimed for the same condition as part of their last PIP claim
• it developed out of a condition they claimed as part of your last PIP claim

Citizens Advice gave the following example: “If your last claim was for diabetes and your diabetes has now made it harder for you to see, you can now claim PIP for your diabetes and your sight loss.”

If someone claims PIP after state pension age, there are extra rules about the ‘mobility component’. The mobility component is for the extra help people need to get around.

Claimants can’t:

• start getting the mobility component unless they got it in their last PIP claim
• get the enhanced rate of the mobility component if they only got the standard rate in their last PIP claim

These rules apply even if one’s medical condition has gotten worse.

The benefit is not means-tested meaning people can get it regardless of how much they earn, or any savings they might have.

PIP consists of two parts, with a payment for how the condition affects a person’s daily life and a payment for how it affects their mobility.

People who apply for the support are given an assessment to determine if they need a lower or higher level of support.

These are the current weekly rates for the benefit, which is paid every four weeks:

Daily living component

· Standard rate: £68.10

· Enhanced rate: £101.75.

Mobility component

· Standard rate: £26.90

· Enhanced rate: £71.

To start a claim, people need to call the DWP on 0800 917 2222. They will need to fill out and return it before being assessed.

Before calling, people should have their contact details, date of birth, national insurance number, bank account details and their doctor’s details on hand.

More information can be found on the Government’s website.