NI PIP Handbook - Supporting young people to claim
DLA will remain for young people under 16. A young person will not be invited to claim PIP until they reach the age of 16.
Preparing young people for claiming PIP
We will write to parents or guardians of young people, who are currently in receipt of DLA as they approach age 16.
At age 15 years and 7 months a letter will be sent to the parent or guardian to explain that:
- PIP replaces DLA as the correct benefit for anybody age 16 years and over
- the young person will need to claim PIP at 16 years of age
- we will write to the young person about this to explain how to claim PIP, when they are 16
- if the young person makes a claim for PIP when they reach 16, we will make sure their DLA continues to be paid until we make a decision about their PIP claim
- the parent / guardian needs to let us know who to pay DLA to once the young person turns 16, while we make a decision about their claim to PIP
- the parent / guardian should discuss the letter with the young person.
The letter will also ask whether the young person will need an appointee when they turn 16, and what bank details should be used.
At age 15 years and 10 months a letter will be sent to the parent or guardian to explain that the young person will shortly be invited to claim PIP at 16. A variant of the letter also repeats the questions in the previous letter if an answer has not been received.
At age 16 a letter will be sent to the young person, or their appointee, to invite them to claim PIP, it will explain:
- how to claim PIP and when the claim must be returned by
- that if they don’t claim PIP by the date given on their letter, their DLA will stop
- that their DLA will continue to be paid (even if their DLA award was due to expire) as long as they send us any information asked for and go to an assessment consultation, if required.
Claim for PIP is made
If a young person makes a claim to PIP, their DLA will continue to be paid until we make a decision on their PIP claim; when the decision on their PIP claim is made their DLA will end even if they currently have a long term or indefinite award. If the young person is awarded PIP it may be the same amount or more or less than their current DLA. This could affect other benefits that the young person, or others in their household, may receive.
Appointees
Becoming an appointee for social security benefits.
You can apply to become an appointee for someone who may need help with claiming benefit because they can’t manage their own affairs.
This could be because they’re mentally incapable or, exceptionally, have severe physical disabilities. As an appointee you can be given the legal right to act for them. If a young person cannot do things like tell the Department for Communities if their condition gets better or worse, or about changes in address or bank details and so on, another person may need to act on their behalf, as their ‘Appointee’.
This must be because of their illness or disability and not just because they are still a young person.
More detailed information about becoming an appointee for social security benefits is available on nidirect.