Pip Query

Wilsonwinehouse

Morning guys.. 

Just wanted to ask a question about the awarding of pip for certain conditions.

All the people that use this forum, and the conditions and experience you have, and I know pip isn't awarded based on diagnosis but would you say you're more likely to be awarded pip for a physical issue or mental health?

In peoples experience, would it be more.lilely for example of you were registered blind or had.say ADHD, anxiety etc. 

Just curious as I have seen lots of videos and read lots of posts saying it's difficult to get an award for mental health related problems.

JBS2022

My husband gets enhanced on both for mental health, so it's definately possible, it all depends on whether you get enough points on the descriptors. A diagnosis doesn't really matter.

chiarieds

We have many members who have been awarded PIP purely on mental health grounds. So, claiming PIP for either physical or mental health problems (or often both) makes no difference. Understanding the PIP activities/descriptors is key.

OverlyAnxious

I think it's often more difficult to provide evidence of scenarios with mental health conditions.  Certainly with myself and a few people I know with similar conditions, we've not been awarded without MR or tribunal and then also received a lower award than common sense would dictate.

If you're effectively saying "Physically I can do X, but my brain puts invisible barriers in the way", that's much more difficult for an assessor to understand than "I physically can't do X because I'm missing a limb". 

Obviously that's an extreme scenario, but this question comes up a lot and I disagree with the usual answers about it being equal for both mental and physical issues.

Hannah_Alumni

I think that's a really great question @Wilsonwinehouse It definitely brings up that discussion of "because you can see someone is disabled". As to why physical disabilities are the main reason some think people claim benefits. 

I had both physical issues and mental health issues that were exacerbating each other when I was awarded Limited Capability To Work, but I was denied PIP for just the physical side alone almost a decade ago now. 

chiarieds

Much tho I don't like to disagree @OverlyAnxious , government statistics show that many different disabilities are successfully awarded, & there's not much difference in the percentages shown between those considered mainly mental or physical problems. I can't seem to find a recent one, but here's some info from Jan 2022:

Assessment award rates (new claims, normal rules) by main disabling condition to January 2022

PIP New Claim Assessment Award Rates (normal rules)	Percentage
Psychiatric disorders	51%
Musculoskeletal disease (general)	60%
Musculoskeletal disease (regional)	58%
Neurological disease	61%
Respiratory disease	55%
Other	49%

I had no evidence to show I'm in pain; that's equally hard to prove, as is fatigue for example.

Wilsonwinehouse

Thanks guys, that is why i thought i would ask the question. 

I applied in January and had an assessment 2 weeks ago and I am now just waiting for a decision, I am severely sight impaired (blind) I can no longer read even with a magnifier etc, i still work from home but my work computer reads things out to me and i can dictate into it as well. 

Obviously i am not an assessor or a decision maker but in my head, when i think about it, i never feel confident of getting pip, but if i had paperwork put in front of me for a claim where the person had a CVI saying they were blind, and then one of the questions was can you read, and i cant read at all, i would be a simpler process to put the 2 together if that makes sense.

Obviously everyone that needs it should get it, i was just wondering if some things were harder to almost prove and get people to believe in what you are telling them.

OverlyAnxious

chiarieds said:

Much tho I don't like to disagree @OverlyAnxious , government statistics show that many different disabilities are successfully awarded, & there's not much difference in the percentages shown between those considered mainly mental or physical problems. I can't seem to find a recent one, but here's some info from Jan 2022:

Assessment award rates (new claims, normal rules) by main disabling condition to January 2022

PIP New Claim Assessment Award Rates (normal rules)	Percentage
Psychiatric disorders	51%
Musculoskeletal disease (general)	60%
Musculoskeletal disease (regional)	58%
Neurological disease	61%
Respiratory disease	55%
Other	49%

I had no evidence to show I'm in pain; that's equally hard to prove, as is fatigue for example.

Fair point.  There are, of course, some physical issues that are more difficult to prove than others.

I must admit, those statistics are fairly disheartening though.  Average 55% pass rate across all conditions suggests a lot of time being wasted and a lot of extra hassle & stress for the other 45%.  Presumably the vast majority of those aren't attempting to claim fraudulently.

JBS2022

OverlyAnxious said:

chiarieds said:

Much tho I don't like to disagree @OverlyAnxious , government statistics show that many different disabilities are successfully awarded, & there's not much difference in the percentages shown between those considered mainly mental or physical problems. I can't seem to find a recent one, but here's some info from Jan 2022:

Assessment award rates (new claims, normal rules) by main disabling condition to January 2022

PIP New Claim Assessment Award Rates (normal rules)	Percentage
Psychiatric disorders	51%
Musculoskeletal disease (general)	60%
Musculoskeletal disease (regional)	58%
Neurological disease	61%
Respiratory disease	55%
Other	49%

I had no evidence to show I'm in pain; that's equally hard to prove, as is fatigue for example.

Fair point.  There are, of course, some physical issues that are more difficult to prove than others.

I must admit, those statistics are fairly disheartening though.  Average 55% pass rate across all conditions suggests a lot of time being wasted and a lot of extra hassle & stress for the other 45%.  Presumably the vast majority of those aren't attempting to claim fraudulently.

Its not even about fraud(which you don't believe anyway), it could be people are just mistaken about their eligibility. News sites stating you can get PIP for period pain and toothache do not help matters and promote the belief you can claim for any diagnosed condition ( diagnosis is irrelevant anyway)no matter how minor. I myself tried to claim PIP a few years ago for mild depression based on these news stories, and was correctly,I might add, refused. I would never have got enough points to be awarded. Lots of people do not even know how PIP works and don't realise it's a point based system, just assuming a diagnosis is all that's required.

OverlyAnxious

JBS2022 said:

Lots of people do not even know how PIP works and don't realise it's a point based system, just assuming a diagnosis is all that's required.

Yes, this is one of the most frustrating things about PIP, and something that causes a lot of the stress & time wasting I mentioned above.  The DWP really need to make this clearer.

When I first applied, I did so mainly for agoraphobia, and spent ages writing up on 'going out'.  But as I could still go out alone, albeit very short distances and very short time periods, with a lot of preparation and planning, I had no way of being awarded any points for 'going out'.  It wasn't until I joined this forum that I found out about the points and how the descriptors differed from the questions.