My PIP experience

LJ36

Hi

I had my PIP telephone assessment.  When I initially applied for pip I sent a copy of my autism diagnosis report as evidence along with my pip questionnaire. When I had my call I was asked such strange things like 

Am I right or left handed
when did I last go to the hairdressers
what bills are in my name 
how often I would shower or any rituals I have
do I get help for autism 

I was expecting the questions to reflect what I answered in my questionnaire. My assessment only lasted 30 mins and I feel like I haven’t been able to get across just how much my autism impacts me. 

I’m so stressed about the whole thing and now have the anxiety of waiting for the outcome 

poppy123456

The assessment is for them to gather more evidence to support your claim. If all the questions reflected what you wrote in the form then there would be no point in doing the assessment.

The questions they ask are more relevant than you think they are because it tells them things about you. For example the haircut question was likely asked to determine whether you can plan the route of a journey to either a familiar or unfamiliar place. The bills will be related to the budgeting descriptor, do you need help/support to manage your money and/or pay your bills.

Sometimes they ask if you have any pets, such as a dog, do you take the dog for a walk, how often do you go and do you go alone etc etc.

Assessment times can last anywhere from 20 to 120 minutes. The time to tell them how your conditions affect you was when you filled out the form because there's not always enough of time to go through everything during the assessment. Your assessment lasting 30 minutes doesn't really indicate anything at all.

It will be impossible to predict anything at this stage. Once the assessment report is returned to DWP a decision can take anywhere up to about 12 weeks.

LJ36

Thank you so much for the reply I really appreciate it. It’s such a stressful process. 

LJ36

Do they read the autism report and take the points listed on that into consideration?

poppy123456

All evidence should be taken into consideration before the decision is made. When i sent my daughters ASD report a few years ago i highlighted the most important parts that were linked to the PIP descriptors because her report is quite long and i didn't want them to miss anything i thought was relevant.