Change of circumstances

Hi everyone

I just wanted to say thanks so very much to everyone on benefits and work this site is invaluable to people I really couldn't have coped without everyone's stories and the moderators great advice

I hope this helps encourage everyone to keep fighting for what they deserve

My experience with informing pip of a change of circumstances due to new health condition is as follows

I wrote informing them in February 2024 that I had a new health condition and after 3 month's of not hearing anything back I rang the helpline they said I had to ASK for my claim to be reviewed which I did over the phone I found this quite intimidating as I was warned I could lose the award I have already but I carried on asking for a review

I received a text message the next day saying they would be sending me out a review form which I received and sent back within the month

I was informing them of a change to my mobility only and as I already had full daily living I wrote no change to everything except the mobility part however in hindsight I feel I should have written lots more than I did on the review form as now looking back it's like having a brand new claim I also included my recent ct scan results as that's all I had to show having recently changed doctors aswell I was worried about not including enough evidence instead of filling the review form out more

I then didn't hear anything at all other than a text saying we have received your form until the end of August 2024 this text message said I would be receiving a telephone call from a health care practitioner from I can't quite remember the company I waited and waited and then received another text saying the telephone call would be at the beginning of November

This telephone call lasted 1 hour and 45 minutes it was very tiring from a paramedic

The first question was... which hand am I holding the phone with... I said I'm not it's on loud speaker ..then I was asked like do I hold a driver's license I said yes for id purposes only and I was then asked question after question about my health conditions from the beginning of my claim way back in 2011 which I found quite strange but I must have answered everything correctly as I was awarded full daily living again and full mobility I was so relieved it's for 3 years it's life changing and the weigh of my mind its incredible

I received a text one hour after my telephone call to say they have enough information then I received a letter a week later saying the same

I then rang the helpline to request my report which looking back was another mistake as if id failed id not have had the time to get together my appeal

I then received another text 4.5 weeks later saying my pip review is complete and I'll hear within two weeks I then rang the automated telephone number to find out what my next payment would be and it was this amount that I realised id been awarded full daily living again and full mobility backdated to the date I ASKED for the review not the 3 month's prior to that when I wrote informing them of the initial change to my health conditions

I would like to say it's like they try so hard to catch you out saying the wrong things asking the same questions over and over again but in a different way I kept on saying what I couldn't do and leaving no room for them to say I could do xyz when I couldn't

I would like to tell others to think of it like this if you say yes I can do this when you can't you'll lose your points so stick to your guns

Sorry for the very long post I've been poorly since before Christmas and this is the first chance I've had to inform others of the timelines and what they need to expect

I'm in the south west of England

Good luck to everyone and thanks again for this superb website