According to Tom Pursglove DWP Minister For Disabled People, 42,000 claimants lost their PIP Personal Independence Payments) awards in 2021 because they allegedly failed to return their AR1 PIP review forms.
This has caused an astonishing unexplained increase of almost 300% in just two years.
Theres a strong probability that many of the claimants that have been disallowed their payments have indeed returned them in time and the inept and archaic DWP system could be either losing them or taking far too long to record that they have been received.
Not to forget that some claimants may have failed to return the review form because the distress that completing these forms can cause triggering physical or mental health conditions.
As I reported a couple of weeks ago the tragic death of Laura Winham who’s disability benefit was stopped without any welfare checks by the DWP and other organisations after she failed to return her PIP claim form after being told that she needed to transfer from DLA to PIP.
Please note that all agencies involved were aware that she had a severe mental illness and needed support to do so.
According to Pursglove, claimants with serious mental health or cognitive conditions or who are vulnerable in other ways should have their files ‘watermarked’ to show they need additional support. Clearly this isn’t happening in all cases.
According to DWP policy claimants such as these should not have their PIP stopped because of a failure to return a form.
Are the DWP ignoring their own policies and procedures?Unsurprisingly this appears to be the case doesn’t it.
The poor side of life 
This year the DWP lost my annual verification form that I had promptly signed and returned a few weeks prior. They wrote to me again saying that they hadn’t received my first form and asking me to do it again and return within a very short space of time or have my Benefits claim closed. I sent it off right away in the prepaid 2nd class envelope and hoped for the best. They obviously hadn’t accounted for the Royal Mail Strikes and my original was probably still on its way, or languishing in a mail depot sorting office somewhere. My Benefits hasn’t been stopped so I assume they’ve received it.
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Omfg that’s awful 😞. My advice is that if you can afford it then send any forms by recorded delivery so that you can prove that you filled it in and posted it xxx
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