I was expecting forms for my PIP review to arrive last year as my claim was due for review in Jan 2021. It's a nightmare as there are huge mistakes on my medical record and I've got loads of conditions diagnosed over past 25 yrs or more plus I can't use my hands and they insist on handwritten forms only but trying to get formal assistance takes months with backlogs of appts everywhere even before Covid.
I received a letter before Xmas and was delighted they had told me that due to Covid, they were so far behind they were extending my review date to Jan 2022 and I hoped by then, perhaps my very strained GP surgery would be willing to talk to us on the phone or even face to face, plus I've acquired a few new conditions over the past 12 mths diagnosed via text but they're so under strain, there isn't even a chance to talk to a GP about medical things. They are constantly asking people not to bother them about admin and forms but the GPs there don't know me, my usual one retired, then was replaced 4 times since and I've never met any but I would need to liase about PIP stuff or risk them leaving off conditions not showing up in the DB but are on my paper records.
However, I got a letter today saying that I need to complete and return my PIP claim and must reach them by 2 weeks time, or my PIP will stop and I will have to restart a new claim all over again. It completely contradicted the extensions they were sending out. After holding on the phone for 3 hours straight I got through. It turns out that the extensions they posted out are not for us claimants, they are covering themselves for their delay in decisions their end. Therefore if you've received an extension, don't be fooled into thinking it gives you time, it doesn't, and in fact instead of sending your forms out with about 4-8 weeks warning, they are sending them out by 2nd class and my letter took 14 days to reach me. I was told today that 2nd class Royal Mail is taking anything up to 3 or 4 weeks to reach its destination so I should think about sending my completed 36 page form back 3 or 4 weeks before the arrival deadline. So that means if my forms are due back on Mar 1st, then I should be sending my forms back 2 weeks ago, 2 weeks before I even received them!
Added to my woes, I had a vaccine yesterday and started feeling very unwell over night I think because I had quite a bad fall and ended up in the gutter yesterday unable to get up with no power in my legs. I hardly walk anywhere because it's so painful, legs don't work and I've had bad accidents and broken fingers etc and even severed a thumb off. Feeling rough from a vaccine, or any needle, I expected, it's not drastic if you've got nothing to do and recovers if you remain unstressed. Except now I've got to run round finding all my documents (with my hand disability, I can't deal with paper, and my stuff is in a mess because I had no idea an extension was just for their decision and not for my admin/forms. Many of my consultants this Yr just cancelled appts, didn't make new ones and I haven't even got the entire proof I need currently. And I can't just copy old stuff because I've got new conditions and to leave them off could do me out of money but also look really flaky. I begged for an extension, got one to the 14th March as they'll only allow 1 x 14 days max. I was urged to do it ASAP, and send it at least 3 to 4 weeks before the deadline as Royal Mail are so slow now.. 3 or 4 weeks before March 14th is this Sunday, its just not going to happen, and I really can't be doing all this in a flare up, and after a vaccine. I've got shed loads of hospital appts coming up!
Anyway, I don't need help or advice, but I just wanted to warn people who had a letter saying any PIP award reviews are delayed until 2022, it is only their end that's delayed not yours. You'll still have to plan getting your review forms back at the same time you normally do but it's complicated by the fact they only send them out by 2nd class which is taking 2 weeks and they only provide a 2nd class envelope. Be warned though, I paid for an urgent delivery to my cousin recently, it should've been next day or 48 hrs and it took 3½ weeks to arrive. PIP Dept is only sending your review forms to you 4 weeks before they are due back, they will probably arrive 2 weeks before the deadline to get them back by. They sent my pistpinement/extension of my review to me in Oct and it arrived in Nov. I wish they'd just sent the forms and told me to do them as normal. After you've returned your forms, and are waiting for a decision, that decision could take a year for existing claims and while you're waiting you'll still get your last year's amount.
I really wish I could do without PIP but clearly I can't. My GP surgery is only 5 mins walk, and couldn't do it without a lot of pain and unsteadiness, and thank goodness a man saw me fall and was able to pick me up, which was a selfless thing to do when were not supposed to be touching. So, also because I'm incontinent of bladder and bowel, I need my PIP to get to hospital which is 20 min walk, bus, train, tube, train, and then 20 min walk away. I go by cab, £45 there and £45 back. Before I got PIP, I fell fown the train stairs and hot trampled, then at my apot because I'd not yet been diagnosed with anything, the consultant said there wasn't a medical reason for it he could think of... But even with PIP it only covers one carer for 2 hrs a week for "hand tasks" and about one hospital visit per month. I certainly would love to just say darn it, I just won't apply for PIP because I'm sick of jumping through hoops, and I'm really not that bad compared with people in wheelchairs etc, but I can't wipe my bottom and the shower toilet is expensive to maintain, I buy all my own bathroom/kitchen aids and need taxis.