Anyone on PIP urged to speak to DWP before planning holiday | Personal Finance | Finance

People on Personal Independence Payments (PIP) have been urged to speak to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) before planning a holiday. Changes in personal circumstances can put benefit entitlement at risk or lead to regular payments being paused or stopped.

Things like changing your name, doctor, health professional or address do not need to be reported to the DWP and will have no impact on your payments – but it is worthwhile ensuring the details the DWP holds on file for you are up to date. However, leaving the country or planning to leave the country for a period of more than four weeks – even just for a holiday – may affect entitlement. Guidance on GOV.UK for people planning to leave the country for more than four weeks, states: “This change may affect the claimant’s entitlement to PIP. We will need to know the date the claimant is leaving the country, how long they are planning to be out of the country, which country they are going to and why they are going abroad.”

If you are due to travel abroad this summer, make sure you contact the DWP with the details as soon as possible – and keep in mind when booking holidays for later in the year. Here is a comprehensive guide to all the changes in circumstances and whether you need to contact the DWP about them.

Stays in hospital or similar institutions

DWP guidance states both components of PIP cease to be payable 28 days after the claimant is admitted to an NHS hospital. Privately funded patients are unaffected by these rules and can continue to be paid either component of PIP. If a claimant is in hospital or a similar institution at the date entitlement to PIP starts, PIP is not payable until they are discharged.

Care homes

The daily living component of PIP ceases to be payable after 28 days of residency in care home where the costs of the accommodation are met from public or local funds. The PIP mobility component can continue to be paid.

People who fully self-fund their placement are unaffected by these rules. If a claimant is in a care home at the date of entitlement, the PIP daily living component is not payable until they leave.

Linked spells in hospital and a care home

Spells in hospital are linked if the gap between them is no more than 28 days. The daily living component for spells in a care home is also linked if the gap between them is no more than 28 days.

There is no link for the mobility component because payment is not affected when in a care home. Both components of PIP will stop being paid after 28 days in hospital, and the daily living component will stop being paid after 28 days in a care home. If a claimant moves between a hospital and care home, or the other way around, these periods will also link.

Imprisonment or claimant held in legal custody

This change may affect the amount of PIP that can be paid to the claimant. The DWP needs to know the date the claimant was taken into prison or legal custody and the length of time they are expected to be there, if known.

Detained in legal custody

PIP ceases to be payable after 28 days where someone is being detained in legal custody. This applies whether the offence is civil or criminal and whether they have been convicted or are on remand.

Suspended payments of benefit are not refunded regardless of the outcome of proceedings against the individual. Two or more separate periods in legal custody link if they are within one year of each other.

Full details about changes of circumstance if you are receiving PIP can be found in the online handbook here.