422,200 PIP claimants should be protected from losing their benefit if they fail to return a PIP2 form.
Last month we learnt that 42,000 claimants lost their PIP award in 2021 because they failed to return their AR1 PIP review PIP form.
We also revealed that claimants with serious mental health or cognitive conditions who have difficulty communicating or engaging with the PIP process, have their files ‘watermarked’ as Additional Support (AS), although they are not classed as vulnerable.
These claimants should be asked to attend a PIP assessment even if they fail to return their form.
Now the DWP has published figures showing that the total number of current PIP recipients with an AS marker is 422,200.
If you or your client is refused PIP due to failure to return a form, it would be worth checking whether you have an AS marker on your file.
You can read the full statistics here.