MR for pip

Kath78

Hi just after some advice.  Recently had review and got re awarded.  I asked pip to send my report out twice but still never received them.  Time was ticking over a month of waiting for reports, so I put a MR in over phone and backed it up with a letter.  I said I agreed with the daily living but not the mobility.   I spoke to a lovely lady the other day who said they had received letters and that she would print report off and post it herself.  Received it today.  On the report it says about my cervical scan with results showing moderate neural foraminal stenosis and the part about what I said on how I was suffering  with pain in muscles and pins and needles etc but then the assessor says I don’t have any problems with my upper body.  I also have Fibromyalgia among other problems. My question is can I phone back up and add I don’t agree with what she said.  Sorry for long post x

poppy123456

You said you agreed with the daily living part but not the mobility. Is it the moving around part that you think you should have scored points because you're unable to walk without difficulty? If so then your upper body will have no bearing on any of those descriptors. Being unable to walk will be due to your legs, not your upper body.

chiarieds

From what you say I'm unsure if you're just commenting about the assessor's report, but have not yet received the decision about your MR.

If you've already done a MR, then no need to stress about the assessor's report, which shouldn't be done in any case. As mentioned above, PIP isn't about any diagnoses, rather how they impact on your daily living, & that having problems in the cervical area wouldn't be perceived as affecting your mobility.

calcotti

poppy123456 said:

You said you agreed with the daily living part but not the mobility. Is it the moving around part that you think you should have scored points because you're unable to walk without difficulty? If so then your upper body will have no bearing on any of those descriptors. Being unable to walk will be due to your legs, not your upper body.

Problems in the upper body could cause significant pain if walking so would impact on the mobility descriptors.

chiarieds

Agreed, yet a diagnosis of 'moderate' cervical foraminal stenosis gives no indication of any problems this may cause, & can be an 'incidental' finding with radiography. I think we'd all agree that one has to illustrate how your ability is affected looking at the PIP descriptors: https://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/asset-library/personal-independence-payment-descriptors-and-scores-april-2023.pdf

poppy123456

calcotti said:

poppy123456 said:

You said you agreed with the daily living part but not the mobility. Is it the moving around part that you think you should have scored points because you're unable to walk without difficulty? If so then your upper body will have no bearing on any of those descriptors. Being unable to walk will be due to your legs, not your upper body.

Problems in the upper body could cause significant pain if walking so would impact on the mobility descriptors.

Yes of course, spinal issues... duh, not sure where my head was when i made that comment! Aplogies.

Kath78

I’m not sure I made myself clear.  In the report that I never saw before I did my MR as it never got sent out, I had sent in evidence regarding my cervical spine to back up my reports of pain and pins and needles I experience daily in my upper part of my body with my application at the start. The assessor, even though she had all these details has then said I have upper body strength and no problems.  To me that’s a lie and should not have been put.  I was wondering if I could add to my MR by phoning them up??? My other issues with mobility are not with the pain I’m in as I was awarded for that.   its with my anxiety GAD and for the past 3 reviews they do not acknowledge it one bit.  I struggle daily but deal with it my own way, but it’s worse when I’m In unfamiliar places etc and have to rely on family.  I would be grateful if anyone could help with my question.  Thankyou

chiarieds

I'd put the assessor's report behind you; they do unfortunately get things wrong. It now seems like you have more problems rather with the 'planning & following journey' mobility component due to your GAD.

You can ring up saying you want to add more info, but are dealing with a call centre rather than the DWP, so if you haven't heard back about your MR decision, do also put this in writing. It seems the more important thing to stress is your GAD. Again, as mentioned above, you should give a couple of recent detailed examples as to exactly how this affects you; when did it happen, where were you, were there any consequences, what support do you need, could you do it safely without that support, etc? Remember PIP is about how you are the majority of the time, so indicate how often this affects you.