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All change - the move to Personal Independence Payments (PIP)

The move from Disability Living Allowance (DLA) to Personal Independence Payments (PIP) is causing a lot of uncertainty for many people aged 16 to 64. The SBH Scotland Financial Support Team have been dealing with our members who are currently affected; working to support them through a system which has remained largely unchanged for a great number of years.

This can be a scary time for many who are unsure of what the changes to benefits will mean for their individual circumstances, so we’ve written some top tips and dedicated a web page as a simple guide to PIP, how to apply or to appeal but most importantly to reiterate that we are here to help and advise all those people in Scotland affected by spina bifida or hydrocephalus.

Email us or call the SBH Scotland Helpline on 03455 211 300.

Top Tips:

• For all SBH Scotland Members, the SBH Scotland Financial Support Service are here to offer comprehensive advice for PIP applications, at any stage in your PIP process. They can help you to complete your forms, offer advice on your assessments and support you with mandatory reconsiderations and appeals.
• For those who are not members of SBH Scotland other agencies like the Citizens Advice Bureau should be able to assist you with your application.
• Before filling out the form please read the assessors guidance so you’re giving the information they now use to assess for PIP rather than DLA.
• Please keep copies of all documents you send away. This is useful if documents are lost in the post or if a reconsideration is requested. If you have no access to a photocopier you could use a camera or mobile phone to take photos of your documents.
• When you go to your assessment, take along a friend or relative who knows you well for support and to take notes.
• In your assessment it’s important to talk about the things you have difficulty with or can’t do at all. The assessor probably won’t know anything about you so it’s important you go over everything, even if you've already told them on the form.

For more information visit our Simple Guide to PIP