Saz94
Senior Member (Voting Rights)
I have been putting off applying for benefits since my parents have been looking after me and the system seems very stressful. But know I need to get on it since my parents won't be here forever...
And now that there are these changes coming up in April to UC and possibly in November to PIP (i know this has been put on hold while the government do a review of planned changes, but dunno when the changes would come into force if the govt decides to proceed?). With the changes not affecting "existing claimants".
So it obviously seems that I should get on with my applications ASAP so that I will be an "existing claimant" and not affected by changes. BUT unfortunately I'm having a really terrible health flare up at the moment, so I want to at least give it a couple months to focus on improving my health, before I do the applications. (Like tbh there's literally no way I could do it, with the lack of energy levels that I have atm.
So, my questions are:
And now that there are these changes coming up in April to UC and possibly in November to PIP (i know this has been put on hold while the government do a review of planned changes, but dunno when the changes would come into force if the govt decides to proceed?). With the changes not affecting "existing claimants".
So it obviously seems that I should get on with my applications ASAP so that I will be an "existing claimant" and not affected by changes. BUT unfortunately I'm having a really terrible health flare up at the moment, so I want to at least give it a couple months to focus on improving my health, before I do the applications. (Like tbh there's literally no way I could do it, with the lack of energy levels that I have atm.
So, my questions are:
- I know it can take ages to get approved for PIP. Would I count as an "existing claimant" if I've sent my application in before any changes are implemented, say if im stuck in the appeals process when the changes come through, or only if I've actually received the pip award before changes are implemented?
- given that the government review on pip is due in "the autumn", does anyone know what the earliest might be that changes to pip are implemented, if they decide to implement any?
- UC seems a much quicker process to get approved, at least for UC itself. BUT it can take a while to be assessed for the health/disability element of UC. Do I need to just get approved for UC itself before April 2026, or do I also need to get approved for the health element of UC, in order to count as an "existing claimant" and get the not-reduced amount of UC health element?