DLA Renewals

lynsababe wrote: Does anyone know what percentage of DLA (higher rate care and mobility) renewals are granted without attending a medical?

We are not even sure that there is an Assessment Provider for DLA (except in N. Ireland) at the moment, so it is possible that all DLA Decisions are being made by the DM, possibly with the assistance of Google (other internet search providers available).

Gordon

lynsababe

If it is the case that there are no assessment services for DLA, then it does not change the evidence that you should supply to the DWP as part of your renewal. The DWP still have the option to contact your GP for further medical information.

I am afraid there is no way for us to offer any advice on whether a claimant would be better claiming PIP rather than DLA.

Technically, if you are currently in receipt of DLA and are not in an active PIP postcode which seems to be the case if you have had a DLA renewal, then you can only make a claim for PIP by closing your current DLA award and making a new claim for PIP, obviously you will receive no payments until and if a PIP award is made.

One of the Governments stated aims with PIP is to reduce the disability budget by 20%, this means that a lot of DLA claimants will lose their current awards or receive a reduced award on transfer, that said, some will be better of with PIP than DLA. The criteria are very different so I do not believe that even claimants with HRC and HRM will be immune from being affected.

If you want to have a look at PIP then I would suggest that you have a look at our PIP Claim guide, but you must score yourself harshly, we have all to often seen members expecting to score 10s of points who have in fact struggled to qualify at all.

Gordon