PIP Change of Circumstances: What to Report and How

You must tell the DWP straight away if any of the following change. Some of these increase your PIP, some reduce it, but you must report all of them either way:

Health and care needs

• ✓Your condition gets worse, or the help you need with daily living or getting around increases
• ✓Your condition improves, or you need less help than before
• ✓The help you need changes in nature (for example you now need supervision, or a new aid or adaptation)
• ✓You start or recover from a new condition that affects your daily living or mobility
• ✓You become terminally ill (special fast-track rules apply, the claim is dealt with under the 'special rules')

Personal circumstances

• ✓You go into hospital or a care home, or come out of one
• ✓You go abroad for more than 4 weeks
• ✓You change your name, address, GP, or the bank account your PIP is paid into
• ✓You go into prison or are held in detention
• ✓Your immigration status changes, or your right to reside in the UK changes
• ✓The person you appointed to act for you changes, or you want to change how you're paid

The quickest way is by phone. Have your National Insurance number and details of the change ready:

• ✓PIP enquiry line (England, Scotland, Wales): 0800 121 4433
• ✓Textphone: 0800 121 4493, or Relay UK: 18001 then 0800 121 4433
• ✓Northern Ireland (PIP Centre): 0800 587 0932
• ✓By post: write to the PIP office that deals with your claim (the address is on your decision letter), keep a copy and use a free proof-of-posting

When you report a change that could affect your needs, the DWP usually carries out a review of your award. After looking at the new information (and sometimes a new assessment), one of four things happens:

• ✓Your PIP goes up, if your needs have increased enough to score more points or reach a higher rate
• ✓Your PIP stays the same, if the change doesn't alter your points
• ✓Your PIP goes down, if your needs have reduced
• ✓Your PIP stops, if you no longer score enough points to qualify

If the decision goes against you, you have the right to challenge it. Ask for a Mandatory Reconsideration within one month, and if that fails you can appeal to a tribunal.

A few situations have specific rules that catch people out:

• ✓Hospital: the daily living and mobility parts of PIP usually stop after you've been an NHS hospital in-patient for 28 days (stays are added together if they're within 28 days of each other). Different rules apply to under-18s.
• ✓Care homes: if your care home costs are met from public funds, the daily living part of PIP usually stops after 28 days, the mobility part normally continues. If you fully self-fund your care, PIP usually continues.
• ✓Going abroad: you can normally keep PIP during a temporary absence of up to 13 weeks, or up to 26 weeks if you go specifically for medical treatment. You must still report the trip if it's over 4 weeks.
• ✓Prison or detention: PIP normally stops after 28 days in custody.

Failing to report a change that reduces your entitlement is serious. If you're paid more than you're owed, you will normally have to pay the money back, even if the mistake was innocent. On top of that:

• ✓The DWP can add a civil penalty of £50 to an overpayment caused by failing to report a change without a reasonable excuse
• ✓If the DWP believes you knowingly failed to report a change to keep getting money, it can treat it as benefit fraud, leading to an administrative penalty, loss of benefit, or prosecution
• ✓Overpayments can be recovered from your ongoing benefits, your wages, or directly, so it's always cheaper and safer to report promptly