Unexpected DWP LEAP Payment

So today I received a payment into my bank account saying it was a DWP PIP . So instead of being delighted money was in my account , I panicked as it wasn’t expected so I thought before I spend any of it I'd better call PIP enquiry and find out if it was a legitimate payment and it was….. I was told it was a leap payment from 2008-2019 . Although haven’t received the letter in the post yet so I may have misheard the dates.

The PIP advisor on the phone basically said that if he was being honest he doesn’t really understand how the DWP leap payment works but said a letter has been sent with the explanation.

So I’m going to be honest I didn’t even know what a leap payment, I kind of remember a article a few years back about a new law in relation to how the DWP assessment mental health and mobility element of DLA/PIP.

So I guess my question is has anyone else recieved a leap payment?
As I did not fill out any forms or anything so it was just about of a surprise. .

I will do. Haven’t received letter as yet but our post is always delayed. Like I said it was all very random

Hi So I have finally received the letter in the post regarding the leap payment so I have included it below for anyone interested….


There have been some changes in Personal Independence
Payment (PIP) law that affects how the Department for Work and Pensions decides PIP claims. We are looking again at PIP claims to find out which ones are affected.
This letter explains if and how these changes affect you.

I have looked again at your PIP for the following dates:
This award is affected. Your rate of PIP has increased because of these changes in law. I looked again at the information we have on your PIP claims) including any new information you provided at my request. This told me the type of help, and how much help you needed. I used this information to look at whether you could carry out 12 activities and the amount of help you needed.

I looked again at all your PIP claims that may be affected because of changes in the law on how PIP claims are decided. MM v DWP tribunal judgment. This relates to how we consider the support someone needs to engage with other people face-to-face.
If someone needs 'prompting', by way of reminding, encouraging or explaining, from a person trained or experienced in assisting people in social situations, we now consider whether this is 'social support'.

The change also clarifies that social support is an ongoing need to help engage with other people. It does not need to be during or immediately before the activity. It applies from 06 April 2016

I made my decision using information about your health condition or disability including details of any treatment, medication, test results and symptoms. I have looked at the information you provided and changed the points previously chosen as the previous decision was based on an error in law.

I have decided that you needed social support to engage with other people. This has increased your award from 06 April 2016 to 09 September 2019 as you have now been awarded the enhanced rate for daily living activities during this period.