Case Study: ‘Anne’

Copy written for Citizens Advice — Help with PIP

“I felt completely overwhelmed,” says Anne*, “full of apprehension.”

Anne is an older woman with a serious health condition. When it came to renew her longstanding PIP claim she simply couldn’t face the application form. Paperwork felt like an insurmountable wall to her so the benefit eventually lapsed, leaving Anne without an income.

Eventually, Anne built up the courage to contact Citizens Advice for help. “They’d helped me before, I knew they could help me again”, she says. Our adviser, Virginia, spent some hours on the phone with Anne as they completed the PIP form together.

“I was so grateful to Virginia. I’m not very good with processing documents and there were 40 pages to fill in, it took me a week just to get the information together for our phone call.”

The renewal was successful and Anne was awarded over £5,000 a year until 2030. “I’m immensely grateful and hugely relived,” she says. “It’s such a relief to know that there’s some money coming in.”

Anne’s husband is elderly and disabled, she says that the award will make a huge difference as it means she will be able to pay for extra care and help at home.

If Anne had not been helped by Citizens Advice, in a few months she would’ve reached state pension age and been unable to reapply for PIP, and other options may well have been more difficult to obtain.

“This will make such a difference. Truthfully, I’m so thankful and so grateful.”

*not her real name