How to apply for PIP - Easy Read

Personal Independence Payment (PIP) is the name of a benefit that some people with a disability or health condition get.

The money is to pay for extra help to look after yourself and to get around.

This Easy Read tells you how to apply for PIP.

To see if you could get PIP read our What is PIP? Easy Read page.

Before you contact the Department for Work and Pensions ( DWP ), you will need to have a few things ready to tell them.

• Your name, address and telephone number

• Your date of birth

To ask for longer than 28 days you must write to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).

• Your National Insurance number if you have one
  
  You can find your National Insurance number on any letters you have had about your tax , pensions or benefits.

• Your bank or building society account number and sort code

• Your doctor or health worker's name, address and telephone number

• any dates when you were in a care home or hospital, and their addresses

• any dates when you were not in the UK for more than 4 weeks at a time, and the name of the countries you visited.

If you are not sure about talking to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) yourself, you can:

• Ask the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to add someone you trust to the same phone call

• Ask someone you trust to make the call for you.
  
  - If you want to do this you will need to sit next to them when they make the call.

To ask for PIP you need to contact the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). 

It is quicker to speak to them by phone.

Phone: 0800 917 2222

• By Textphone to: 0800 917 7777

• By Relay UK to: 08009 172 222 (open 8am - 5pm)

          - Relay UK is a tool for people who cannot hear or speak on the phone.

• By letter to:

         Personal Independence Payment New Claims,

         Post Handling Site B.

         Wolverhampton.

         WV99 1AH.

After you have asked for PIP you will be sent a form.

The form is called a PIP2.

The form will ask you for more information about your disability or health conditions.

It will also ask you about the help and equipment you need.

Put as much information as you can on the form.

For example, if you need help to cook food, tell them what help you need and why.

Also tell them what would happen if you do not get any help. 

You might want to keep a diary to help you to fill out the form.

We have made a list of things to think about to help you to keep a diary.

You have 28 days from the date you called the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to send the form back to them.

You can ask for longer than 28 days to return your form if you have a good reason. 

Reasons include:

• you are waiting for an advice appointment.

• you can not complete the form on your own.

• you are sick and not able to complete the form.

Thank you to British Gas Energy Trust for funding.