PIP claim question

Mickele

I tried to apply for a PIP on behalf of my mom. They refused the PIP claim and although I did a mandatory reconsideration, they still refused. 

Can I apply again for a PIP (make a whole new application). Or should i instead take this to the Tribunal? 

poppy123456

It’s not unusual for the MR decision not to change. 

Reapplying using the same evidence you previously used will likely see another refusal. For this reason you should request the Tribunal. 

You can also get some expert advice and help from an advice agency near you. https://advicelocal.uk/

dbrpatersons3

Hi Mickele.

I have just been through this process on behalf of my partner so I know it can be daunting. 

Please don’t give up. If you can go through the pip descriptors and agree upu struggle with some of those things then you should definitely be awarded points.

In our case, my partner started his claim in feb 2022. We had only just had a diagnosis of ADHD and were seeking a diagnosis for a possible personality disorder but as pip isn’t based on conditions and on daily difficulties we pushed on with as much info as we could. We filled out the forms, and I sent in copies of all of his mental health reports from his psychologist and psychiatrist along with different medications he had tried. I went into thorough details about the struggles he faced each day and the situations he had got himself in because of it as well as the impact it had on me being his carer as well as his partner and his son as well. 

Of course it came back refused. I read the decision makers report and this man with no mental health experience or qualifications had decided he should be awarded 0 points for everything. When reading his reasons for scoring him no points whatsoever I completely picked it apart. I in turn wrote an 8 page letter along with the mandatory reconsideration notice explaining exactly why I disagreed.
he had written things like “you say you struggle with concentration but you can play football”. This was very narrow minded and I told them exactly that in our reply. The ignorance of the decision makers words made me so angry because they have no experience in these conditions at all. 

The same can also be said for the assessor who we met face to face who chose to ignore Darren’s outburst during the meeting and didn’t see any issues whatsoever.
Anyway, after both of those we waited for the MRN to be looked at and yep, you guessed it, someone else looked at it and agreed with the initial decision maker. 0 points again.
Livid is not the word.
We opted to go further to tribunal and I gathered all the evidence again that I could along with an extra bit of footage that I had captured to show one of my partners outbursts. 

It took from September 2022 to April to get a hearing date, which was 03rd may 2023.
I had acquired some help from my local money advice unit who had looked at everything I had done and agreed where he should be awarded points. She seemed to think we had a good chance. As she had experience in this my partner opted to have her as his rep at the hearing with myself there for support.
the hearing was via video call.
there was a judge, doctor and dwp representative. 

They were a very nice panel.
the judge straight away said that before we start he definitely agrees that points need to be awarded to my partner for daily living and he just wanted to ask a couple of questions before deciding on mobility.
the DWP representative agreed with the judge the he should be awarded daily living too.
he questioned my partner on his mobility issues, following an unfamiliar route or journey unaided etc. the judge was so lovely and didn’t want to stress my partner out too much as he could see he was getting agitated (he has since been diagnosed with BPD too). I was able to explain a couple of things on behalf of him when he struggled too. The whole thing lasted about 25 mins. At the end the judge said he had awarded him standard daily living and just wanted to discuss with the doctor the mobility. Within half an hour I could see online that he had awarded him standard mobility too!!!

The moral of this story is please don’t give up.
the DWP want you to give up at every hurdle, it seems unless there is an obvious issue that they can’t ignore they will do everything in their power to make you give up. 

We had gone from 0 points on the original forms.
Assessor saying the claim should be thrown out.
0 point on the MRN.
And on tribunal day standard daily living and mobility with the DWP rep also agreeing.

you have to persevere.

we’ve been pushing dwp since then on any news of back pay and 4 weeks later we’ve finally got a response and should be paid this week.

Dont give up, I think it’s something like 67% of pip tribunals get overturned 

Good Luck!

Hannah_Alumni

Hello @dbrpatersons3

Thank you so much for sharing your story with us I'm so glad to hear that your partner was awarded after such a struggle. I hope the backpay comes through this week 🤞

Mickele

Hello @dbrpatersons3 


How did you come about finding your local money advice unit?

poppy123456

Mickele said:

Hello @dbrpatersons3 


How did you come about finding your local money advice unit?

If you mean an advice agency then see link. https://advicelocal.uk/welfare-benefits

rebel11

dbrpatersons3 said:

Hi Mickele.

I have just been through this process on behalf of my partner so I know it can be daunting. 

Please don’t give up. If you can go through the pip descriptors and agree upu struggle with some of those things then you should definitely be awarded points.

In our case, my partner started his claim in feb 2022. We had only just had a diagnosis of ADHD and were seeking a diagnosis for a possible personality disorder but as pip isn’t based on conditions and on daily difficulties we pushed on with as much info as we could. We filled out the forms, and I sent in copies of all of his mental health reports from his psychologist and psychiatrist along with different medications he had tried. I went into thorough details about the struggles he faced each day and the situations he had got himself in because of it as well as the impact it had on me being his carer as well as his partner and his son as well. 

Of course it came back refused. I read the decision makers report and this man with no mental health experience or qualifications had decided he should be awarded 0 points for everything. When reading his reasons for scoring him no points whatsoever I completely picked it apart. I in turn wrote an 8 page letter along with the mandatory reconsideration notice explaining exactly why I disagreed.
he had written things like “you say you struggle with concentration but you can play football”. This was very narrow minded and I told them exactly that in our reply. The ignorance of the decision makers words made me so angry because they have no experience in these conditions at all. 

The same can also be said for the assessor who we met face to face who chose to ignore Darren’s outburst during the meeting and didn’t see any issues whatsoever.
Anyway, after both of those we waited for the MRN to be looked at and yep, you guessed it, someone else looked at it and agreed with the initial decision maker. 0 points again.
Livid is not the word.
We opted to go further to tribunal and I gathered all the evidence again that I could along with an extra bit of footage that I had captured to show one of my partners outbursts. 

It took from September 2022 to April to get a hearing date, which was 03rd may 2023.
I had acquired some help from my local money advice unit who had looked at everything I had done and agreed where he should be awarded points. She seemed to think we had a good chance. As she had experience in this my partner opted to have her as his rep at the hearing with myself there for support.
the hearing was via video call.
there was a judge, doctor and dwp representative. 

They were a very nice panel.
the judge straight away said that before we start he definitely agrees that points need to be awarded to my partner for daily living and he just wanted to ask a couple of questions before deciding on mobility.
the DWP representative agreed with the judge the he should be awarded daily living too.
he questioned my partner on his mobility issues, following an unfamiliar route or journey unaided etc. the judge was so lovely and didn’t want to stress my partner out too much as he could see he was getting agitated (he has since been diagnosed with BPD too). I was able to explain a couple of things on behalf of him when he struggled too. The whole thing lasted about 25 mins. At the end the judge said he had awarded him standard daily living and just wanted to discuss with the doctor the mobility. Within half an hour I could see online that he had awarded him standard mobility too!!!

The moral of this story is please don’t give up.
the DWP want you to give up at every hurdle, it seems unless there is an obvious issue that they can’t ignore they will do everything in their power to make you give up. 

We had gone from 0 points on the original forms.
Assessor saying the claim should be thrown out.
0 point on the MRN.
And on tribunal day standard daily living and mobility with the DWP rep also agreeing.

you have to persevere.

we’ve been pushing dwp since then on any news of back pay and 4 weeks later we’ve finally got a response and should be paid this week.

Dont give up, I think it’s something like 67% of pip tribunals get overturned 

Good Luck!

I really, really like this post. Well done, the moral of this, is 'don't give up, you know they want you to', be 'dogged and determined'. 

It's around 73%. 

dbrpatersons3

Hannah_Scope said:

Hello @dbrpatersons3

Thank you so much for sharing your story with us I'm so glad to hear that your partner was awarded after such a struggle. I hope the backpay comes through this week 🤞

Got the back pay exactly 4 weeks after they received the tribunal decison so got there in the end. 

Award letter came few days later 
Thank you 
x

dbrpatersons3

@Mickele

It may be called something else in your area but if you google local benefit advice I’m sure you’ll find your organisation.
They are benefit advisors and they know the ins and outs of how tribunals work.
good luck.

Mickele

Hello @dbrpatersons3 


How did you come about finding your local money advice unit?

poppy123456

Mickele said:

Hello @dbrpatersons3 


How did you come about finding your local money advice unit?

Did you look at the link i posted above? You can see it here https://advicelocal.uk/welfare-benefits click on the link and put your postcode into it and it will tell you what advice agency is local to you.

Mickele

@poppy123456

yes thank you i entered it and i am now browsing through relevant agencies.

Mickele

@dbrpatersons3  and @poppy123456

Hello to you two. Thank you for the advice. I started the PIP application for my mother this year January 2023, and they gave our reconsideration notice by March of this year!! 

The process has been really quick for us; how long do you think the Tribunal will respond to our appeal?

poppy123456

Assuming your mother is either appearing in person with or requested a telephone/video hearing then potentially several months wait. 

Mickele

@poppy123456 and dbrpatersons3 

I tried to speak to a disability action group and received an email from them stating that their services were suspended due to a lack of funding. I was redirected to the council who will contact me.

Should I represent my mother instead? will it give us a higher chance of wining the appeal or is a third party better? I feel like if I wait too long it will be bad for my mum. 

Another soultion i had in mind is to look for other advocacy services. 

poppy123456

In my opinion you should only represent her if you fully understand the PIP descriptors and the criteria. Not many people do. The chances of success increase if being represented by someone that fully understands the criteria and the law. 

Even if you do represent her she will still be expected to answer all the questions herself. 

There’s lots of people who go through this process without representation.