From DLA to a PIP
- By Brian Leveson
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- 14 Nov, 2021
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As part of the growing up process, as our son turns 16 we have had to apply for a Personal Independence Payment (also know as a PIP) as he is no longer eligible for Disability Living Allowance (DLA)
As part of the growing up process, as our son turns 16 we have had to apply for a Personal Independence Payment (also know as a PIP) as he is no longer eligible for Disability Living Allowance (DLA).
This is not the only government administered benefit that we are going to have to sort out - but lets look at this one for a now.
It was just after he turned 16 I got notified that I had to apply for the change in benefit on his behalf
Just after his 16th birthday I got a letter telling me that I had to all up the Department for Work and pensions and tell them that I intended to apply for the PIP for him.
If I had made that phone call by the deadline that they set he would have lost his DLA benefit.
But I did make the call and the DLA benefit has continued as I have been waiting to make the application, made the application and now waiting on the decision.
If I had made that phone call by the deadline that they set he would have lost his DLA benefit.
But I did make the call and the DLA benefit has continued as I have been waiting to make the application, made the application and now waiting on the decision.
The process takes a lot of time

We are about 7 months into the process and we still do not know if we have been awarded the PIP and we have had no updates. But we are still getting the DLA.
The PIP application form is HARD get some help doing it
Tuesday 16th November 2021: The Markfield Project are running a Step-by-step guide to Personal Independent Payments:
Tuesday 16th November 2021: The Markfield Project are running a Step-by-step guide to Personal Independent Payments: FREE online training for parents and carers. Guide to Personal Independent Payments - Tuesday 16th November 2021 from 10am to 1pm Email familyadmin@markfield.org.uk or call 020 8802 2611 (Link to the Markfield training leaflet)
More help from SEND legal about Transitions

Haringey SEND Transport are insisting that a 17 year old minibus with no air conditioning is a suitable vehicle to transport my paraplegic son in this heatwave. The appalling conditions inside the minibus inside the bus is something they knew about last summer, yet they have to date done nothing whatsoever provide a suitable minibus this year nor appropriately mitigate the temperatures inside the minibus.The conditions inside the minibus are so bad that they triggered multiple seizures during the heatwave as my son has epilepsy, which they SEND transport department know about and they also know that they are triggered by heat.It is not just son who is impacted: last year we know of one child who died on Haringey SEND Transport in the summer heatwave and another who had seizures.