[2024] UKUT 308 (AAC)

The Appellant was previously entitled to the middle rate of the DLA care component and the lower rate of the DLA mobility component. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) invited her to make the transition from DLA to PIP. However, on 29 September 2020 the DWP stopped payment of her DLA, and also refused her PIP claim by way of a negative determination, on the basis that she did not have good reason for failing to attend a consultation with a health care professional (HCP). That DWP decision was subsequently set aside on appeal by a First-tier Tribunal (FTT), but not until February 2022. That FTT decision is not the one currently under appeal. Eventually, on 8 November 2022, the DWP reinstated payment of DLA as from 30 September 2020 up to and including 6 December 2022 and then awarded PIP for the period going forward from 7 December 2022 until 30 October 2028. The new PIP award comprised the enhanced rate of both the daily living and the mobility components.

As a ‘winner’ in the transition from DLA to PIP, it was obviously in the Appellant’s interests for her PIP award to start at the earliest possible date. In short, the Appellant argues that the start date for the new PIP award should have been 30 September 2020, when payment of her DLA had stopped. The Secretary of State’s position is that the correct commencement date for the PIP award was 7 December 2022, being the day after the end of the period for which her DLA was (belatedly) reinstated.