pipinfo

Issues »

Required period

The "required period" is the period over which the disability conditions must be met in order for an award to be made or for a change in circumstances to lead to a change of award. It does not apply if a claimant is terminally ill.

Legislation

The meaning of "required period" is defined in regulations.

Regulations 12 and 13 of the main PIP regulations provide that a claimant meets the required period condition for the relevant PIP component where-

  1. if [the claimant] had been assessed at every time in the period of 3 months ending with the prescribed date, it is likely that the Secretary of State would have determined at that time that [the claimant] had [limited or severely limited] ability to carry out [daily living or mobility] activities; and
     
  2. if [the claimant] were to be assessed at every time in the period of 9 months beginning with the day after the prescribed date, it is likely that the Secretary of State would determine at that time that [the claimant] had [limited or severely limited] ability to carry out [daily living or mobility] activities.

NB - the full required period does not have to be met in specified cases relating to a previous claim, and the required period does not apply where the claimant has a terminal illness.

Source: Part 3 of the Social Security (Personal Independence Payment) Regulations 2013 (SI.No.377/2013), and Part 3 of SR.No.217/2016 in Northern Ireland.

NB - in Scotland, adult disability payment is replacing personal independence payment and the meaning of reliably is found in Part 4 of the Disability Assistance for Working Age People (Scotland) Regulations 2022 (SSI.No.54/2022).

See also Social Security Scotland's guidance Backwards and forwards tests for Adult Disability Payment.

Case law

Commentary:​ The definition of ‘prescribed date’, as referred to in regulations 12 and 13 above, is set out in regulation 14 but has been the subject of caselaw – in [2017] UKUT 486 (AAC) Judge Bano finds that, in the case of a new claim, the prescribed date will generally be the date of claim (although it can be later than the date of claim if the three month qualifying period has not been met). However, where a current award is being superseded, the prescribed date can be any date during the period of the current award.  | Add commentary or suggest an edit.