What should I bring for a Personal Independence Payment assessment?

In your booklet that you were sent with your appointment notice, it explains what you have to take with you to your Personal Independence Payment (PIP) assessment.

PLEASE READ THE BOOKLET

It is important that you take two forms of identification with you when you attend a PIP consultation, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) will not allow you to proceed with the consultation if you are unable to prove your identity.

BE ON TIME

NB: Please take your appointment letter with you when you attend.

The appointment letter gives you exact details of where to go for your consultation and a contact number for the Centre, please call this number if you are running late or cannot find it. The telephone number is on the bottom of the map instructions.

Take suitable identification with you

The assessment provider is required by the DWP to carry out a proof of identity check when you have an assessment. Suitable proof is two types of identification from the list below:

  • Passport

  • United Kingdom driving licence

  • United Kingdom travel pass with photograph

  • Birth certificate

  • Marriage certificate

  • Debit/credit card

  • Council Tax demand

  • United Kingdom utility bill

  • Foreign national ID card

  • Evidence of entitlement to state or local authority benefit

You can bring a companion, a family member, support worker, friend, etc.

It can be easier to talk openly about your health condition or disability if you have some moral support, so it may help you to take someone with you to come in to your face-to-face, telephone or video assessment. This could be a friend, family member, carer or support worker. They cannot answer the questions for you but they can remind you to say things. The HCP needs to hear exactly how you feel your conditions and disabilities affect your daily life, so your companion can add in anything that helps you to explain the difficulties you face more clearly, or help you answer any questions that you are asked.

Make sure you take a copy of your PIP form with you.

However, if there are things you do not wish the person accompanying you to hear you telling the HCP, you can ask them to leave the interview room in order for you to do this.

If you would like to record your consultation, please contact the Customer Services team - 0800 188 4881 before your appointment or use the telephone number on your appointment letter.

Taking additional supporting materials:

You may have already provided evidence that you had when you completed and returned the ‘How your disability affects you’ form to the DWP. The HCP will have access to this information at the time of your consultation.

If your health has changed since you first applied for PIP, please take with you any recent or new evidence of how your health condition or disability affects your daily life. Examples of these include:

  • A new prescription list

  • A care plan

  • reports/information from people like your doctors, nurses, social workers or counsellors

  • Hospital discharge letter

If your assessment is taking place at an assessment centre, take a book or something to read in case you have to wait a while, make sure you have told your companion this as well.

One Stop Advocacy.