You need to tell the DWP as soon as possible if your condition changes because this can affect your Personal Independence Payment (PIP).

Examples of things that might change how your condition affects you include:

• your condition gets better or worse

• the level of help you need changes

• you go into hospital or a care home for more than 28 days (if you’re under 18 on the day you go into hospital your PIP won’t be affected)

You also need to tell the DWP if your circumstances change, including if:

• you go abroad for more than 13 weeks

• you change your name, address or bank account details for payment

• you go into, or leave, prison or legal custody

• you change your doctor
• your immigration status changes

The DWP might want to look at your PIP claim again. Before you tell the DWP, you should contact us for help getting all the benefit you’re entitled to.

Changes you don’t have to report

You don’t have to report the following changes because they don’t affect whether you can get PIP or how much you get:

• being in work, returning to work or leaving work

• changes in your earnings or other income

• if someone joins or leaves your household

How to contact the DWP to report a change

Report a change as soon as possible. You can call or write to the DWP to tell them about the change, but you must write to them if you’ve changed your name. Once the change is reported, the DWP will write and let you know how it affects your PIP.

You’ll need to include these details when you report a change:

• your full name
• your date of birth
• your national insurance number
• the date the change happened or will happen
• the thing that has changed

PIP helpline

Someone else can call on your behalf but you need to be with them so that you can give permission for them to speak for you.

Address to write to

The contact address to use is on your original decision letter.

Reporting changes on time

Once you know about a change that might affect the amount of PIP you get, tell the DWP as soon as you can.

The change might increase your payment and you might miss out on extra money if you tell the DWP late.

You should still tell the DWP if you think a change might reduce your PIP – you won’t save money by reporting it later. If you tell the DWP late you could get paid too much and have to pay your benefits back to the DWP. This is called an overpayment – check how the DWP deals with overpayments.

Keep a record of the change

It is a good idea to keep a written record of the fact that you’ve reported the change to the DWP. For example, in case the DWP disagrees that a change has been reported.

If you report the change by phone, you can ask the DWP to send you a written record of the call. If you write to report the change, keep a copy of the letter.

If the DWP wants to assess you again

The DWP will send you a new claim form to complete. You should fill in the form and send it back by the date given on the front page – check how to complete the PIP claim form.