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I have been waiting since April this year so it should be coming up soon. For years I have received PIP for various problems but I was unaware I was autistic until this time last year when I was assessed and this confirmed the reason behind all these problems and more which I had overlooked and put down to personal dislikes, but they had a large impact on my life.

The backlog is a strategy to hold up payments and nothing else. Delays of up to a year are a year they can claim they've reduced the claimant numbers and saved money. 

We went to appeal for my Partner's PIP.  We were awarded mobility at the standard rate and standard daily living by the DWP before tribunal.  Just don't back down.

My experience as a  volunteer advocate is that there can be  dangers when a case is resolved before tribunal  because  the decision means the award has different conditions . I lodged an appeal for someone  in July 2020 but PIP changed their decision before the appeal could be heard. I spoke to a DWP decision maker and I understand that the implications of the decision being made in this way are that:-
The award is time limited and cannot be extended under any circumstances including MR.the claimant must make  a completely new claim and complete each stage .If there has not been a successful award before the set end date the claimant loses the award and any associated entitlements even if  a new PIP has been completed and recorded as received at a date before the previous award ends but a new award has not been decided for any reason , including delays caused by
•    Backlog of cases waiting for assessment
•    Lack of specialist HP to assess a claim
•     Loss of documents by DWP, PIP or SSSCSA

The point being missed here is how they are doing this, by reinstating your money if you back down, which lets face it, is hundreds of pounds a month for many.

Last year I was told by a case manager that my mobility award was incorrect based on their own reports when I asked why I wasn't being reviewed under the MH Ruling. He then called back and said the only way to fix this was a Change of Circumstances. Forms completed, pointing to the evidence and statements in the report, I underwent the assessment.

Unsurprisingly, I was awarded nothing based on a report that barely represented the interview or evidence submitted and it also seems that competent, intelligent and articulate presentation of facts is used to undermine any suggestion of PTSD being debilitating. Not the first time that being smart for a meeting, well groomed, polite and communicative has been used to portray the notion that there can't be anything wrong with me - seems you have to present as an unwashed, bindipping, feckless wastrel while making no eye contact to have anything wrong with you. Shaking someones hand is apparently confidence too. These assessors are filth. Manipulative filth.

At MR most of the previous award was reinstated but not all of it. I moved for Tribunal highlighting the scenario, the faults in the report and the fact that the DWP were unlawfully reducing a Tribunal Decision that stands through 2026 rather than addressing the glaring error THEY had pointed out.
Destitute and almost bankrupt, with a wait of up to 9 months before any hope of a Tribunal fixing the issue, I was contacted and basically told if I dropped the Tribunal they could reinstate my PIP as was and pay the arrears while also using my own argument against me - "the tribunal made your award and set aside the DWP position, we can't change it now even if it's wrong".

Waiting for 9 months with no way to cover bills and without any PIP support wasn't an option. So I caved.

Further, the 2025 award that was extended to 2026 during COVID, has now been bought back to 2025 by the act of submitting a Change of Circumstances.

A lump sum in the form of a backdated award is nothing if you're jacked up to the eyeballs in debt by the time a tribunal has set aside the DWP's rulings. They know it and they are playing on it to reduce Tribunal Numbers. It is naïve and ignorant to call it anything other than a manipulation of data, by preying on people in need.

I've now been waiting a year to go to tribunal. The jobcentre/DWP say that I'm fit to work 34 hours a week. This is something I haven't been able to do for 10+ years. 

george If dwp make an adverse decision on your claim at any point you get what they say from the date of that decision until you win an appeal. Then you get the correct amount backdated and receive a lovely chunk, then the correct amount going forward.

When you take it to appeal do you still get your full rate of payment- as you were getting before appealing ? Thanks