DLA to PIP

[dad61]

Does anyone have advice for transferring my adult son from DLA to PIP. I was expecting this have happened automatically but it has not. I want to do this to maximise the benefit he can receive from my legacy held in trust. My legal advisor tells me that the level of DLA he receives does not permit the trust to be treated as a Disabled Persons Trust. Any level of PIP would enable him to qualify. Are there any risks or pitfalls in initiating this ourselves?

[SpeedyH]

Hi there. That is correct advice, I believe. The criteria for a vulnerable person’s trust is either PIP or Middle/High DLA. You can initiate the change to PIP yourself; you just need to phone up and ask - but it is a reassessment process, they won’t just transfer you across. It may involve a medical assessment, and that may be some distance from your home. The risk is that you may lose the benefit altogether although if you have good professional evidence of how your son’s condition affects his daily living, you might be successful on appeal. If you consider your son to be borderline low/middle DLA it is a less of a risk I would guess. You have my sympathy, that is a hard call to have to make although remember that your son’s time on DLA is probably limited anyway as they are working hard to move everyone across.

[dad61 in reply to SpeedyH]

Thanks for the reply. You confirm my concern re a re-assessment which he is reluctant to undergo - especially during a time of Covid and he is concerned he may lose his benefit. Don't really want to hassle and worry of an appeal. Not sure how I can get a timeline on when they might be planning to cut-over to PIP anyway?

[SpeedyH in reply to dad61]

I meant to add that when the DWP move you across as part of their migration, it is also a reassessment at that point, so the inevitable will happen. It is a good idea to get support from a benefits advisor when that time comes, perhaps you have a local charity that does this, because there are ‘reasonable adjustments’ you can ask for in the process eg not having to travel, not having to do face to face etc and they will be ale to advise on this.

I use a discretionary trust for my son and the tax is a bit of a conundrum, I have to say! He generally does not pay tax as his benefits are below the threshold so there is some relief on any income the trust pays out. (I think!)