New member (Leanne) with question about PIP ‘MM Social Support Judgement’ in ‘Engaging With Others’ category.

Hi there,

I'm new to the forum and would like to introduce myself, my name is Leanne and I have a 26 year old disabled son who is practically blind (registered severely sight impaired) and is autistic (diagnosed aged 7). He does have a little bit of sight left but has to have things right near his face to be able to see them. He receives PIP Mobility enhanced rate but not Daily care as he scored 7 points overall.

He used to receive ESA and Housing Benefit but for the last few years he has been working full-time (from home, doing admin for a family friend's building company). He saves up his PIP money to buy technology like a screen reader for his extra large laptop and video magnifiers etc. Except for his PIP he completely supports himself financially. To cope with his disabilities over the years he has 1:1 mentoring support and continuous support from family to be around other people.

My question relates to the PIP 'Social Support MM Judgement' in which some people weren't awarded enough points in the 'Engaging with other people face to face' descriptor. I believe my son was one of ones affected so I rang DWP last week to ask if he was one of the 'target claimants' on the list to be checked and they said he was. He scored 2 points on that descriptor despite sending a mountain of Social Support letters/receipts and documents. At his ATOS healthcare assessment this was reported as 'needs prompting'. I'm really glad his claim is going to be reviewed as the extra 2 points would mean an award of Daily Care for him but it has left me wondering about his previous ESA and Housing Benefit claims. He missed out on the SDP because he wasn't getting Daily Care and also his Housing Benefit was based on the 'shared room rate' rather than the 'one bedroom rate' it would be have based on if he'd been in receipt of Daily Care.

I'm wondering if anyone here knows how this will work please as any backdating of PIP payments should really include other related benefits (ESA/HB/UC etc) that were received at lower rates due to the DWP PIP error?

Thanks for taking the time to read my first message, hopefully it will also help others who have been affected by it.

Leanne.