New feature to help people with their disability benefit applications

We are excited to announce a new feature to help people with their disability benefit applications. This feature will help benefits applicants to better understand how their condition compares with the assessment criteria for Personal Independence Payment.

Benefits applicants will be able to better articulate how their condition affects their day-to-day life and mobility, increase their confidence during the application process, and make sure that they get the support they need. This feature is now embedded across our products, including our free white-label benefits calculator.

Personal Independence Payment

Personal Independence Payment (PIP) is a benefit that helps people between 16 and 65 years old with the extra costs of a long-term health condition or disability. Benefits claimants can get between £103 and £1,021 per month depending on how their illness or disability affects their day-to-day life and mobility.

Benefits applicants have to submit a form that describes how their illness or disability affects their ability to complete day to day activities, any specialist equipment they use, and any help that they need. Then, benefit applicants need to do a face-to-face assessment with a health professional where they are asked questions on various topics such as mobility, socialising and managing medication. The assessment can also include a basic medical test and a physical examination.

The problem

The complexity and lack of transparency of the PIP application process are recurring topics in our conversations with welfare advisers and support workers. Advisors also highlight that disability benefits applicants are confused and intimidated by the application process, which causes heightened levels of stress and anxiety.

An independent review carried out by the Social Security Advisory Committee revealed that disability benefits claimants have an “inherent distrust” of the system due to the lack of transparency in the assessment process. This review also underlines that “there are high levels of disputed award decisions and 65% of those who appealed against rejected claims saw the decision overturned by judges”.

Our solution

We are introducing a new questionnaire to help benefits applicants calculate the level of support that they need and the disability benefits entitlement they can receive. This feature has 14 questions to help people to understand the level of help they need based on their daily living and mobility difficulties. The questionnaire also includes examples and tips to help people to complete the application form and answer the questions during the face-to-face assessment.

This feature will help people with their disability benefit applications by:

Increasing the transparency of the application process helping applicants to understand how their condition compares with the PIP assessment criteria.
Increasing the chances of getting the support that they need helping applicants to articulate how their disability affects their day-to-day life and mobility on both, the application form and during the face-to-face assessment.
Increasing their confidence during the PIP application process, avoid mistakes and reduce their stress and anxiety.

Get in touch to explore how we can work together to make it easier for people to get their disability benefits.