Adult son with Autism turned down for PIP

emmajaner

Hi, please help.  My son is 23, has moderate autism and learning difficulties.  he's been in special education all his schooling.. then did art and music BTEC in mainstream with support from the special educational needs department..  He didn't do any GCSE's and is now getting ESA and is doing supported permitted work, 15 hours a week.  He gets paid for that through Access to Work grant which stops this year..   
He was assessed for PIP and was turned down!!!  At the same time they have taken away his Severe Disability Premium of £65.85.

My question is how does not getting PIP affect his other benefits and will he lose his freedom pass now too as he won't be getting DLA anymore?

Also, we have got him into a shared house and renting a room.  We tried to apply for housing benefit for him from the local council but he had to have the Severe Disability Premium which we applied for and got but they've now taken  that away..  So do we have to apply for Universal Credit now for him to get the housing benefit componant and will he then lose his ESA?

HELP!!

poppy123456

Hi,

Firstly the PIP, you now have 1 month from the date of the decision to request the Mandatory Reconsideration (MR) you should put this in writing stating which descriptors you think apply to him and your reasons why. Adding a couple of real life examples of what happened the last time he attempted that activity for each descriptor that applies to him.

Do be aware that DLA and PIP are different benefits with different criteria. PIP isn't awarded based on a diagnosis, it's how those conditions affect your ability to carry out daily activity based on the PIP descriptors. Relevant evidence should be sent with the letter to support his claim.

Most MR decisions remain the same so it's likely you'll have to take it to Tribunal.

The reason why his SDP has stopped is because his DLA has now ended. His housing benefit will continue because he's already claiming this. However, because he no longer has a DLA award then the housing benefit will be reduced to shared room rate, rather than 1 bedroom rate, which he would have been receiving previously. The reason it will now reduce is because those that are under the age of 35 will only receive the shared rate of local housing allowance, if they don't receive PIP/DLA. You will need to report those changes to his local council.

His freedom pass will continue until it expires and then he will need to re-apply with evidence to support his claim.

His ESA won't stop completely because they are different benefits.

Please have a read of this link, it will give you more understanding of the PIP descriptors and what they mean.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/personal-independence-payment-assessment-guide-for-assessment-providers/pip-assessment-guide-part-2-the-assessment-criteria

poppy123456

You can check what rate of local housing allowance he will be entitled to by putting his post code into this link and put shared rate, rather than 1 bedroom rate. https://lha-direct.voa.gov.uk/

I'd also look into claiming a discretionary housing payment if the shortfall of rent causes hardship. See link.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/claiming-discretionary-housing-payments/claiming-discretionary-housing-payments

Chloe_Scope

Hi @emmajaner and a warm welcome to the community! How are things going?