Hi, my name is pru10! My son recently had a telephone assessment for PIP

pru10

My son recently had a telephone assessment for PIP unfortunately this was turned down. He has been claiming pip now for 7 years he has anxiety induced psychosis , he's been to assessment before face to face never had a problem he's always accompanied by my self . 
The telephone conversation sent to him and the assessor report states he was calm and polite no anxiety or being anxious not shaw if I'm being thick but how are people with mental health supposed to behave on the phone I don't see what that's go to do with his mental health 
Thanks for reading any advice welcomed 

chiarieds

Hi @pru10 -& welcome to the community. I'm sorry about the assessor's report; has your son received his decision letter? If he hasn't been awarded PIP, then you can ask for a Mandatory Reconsideration (MR) where another decision maker will look at everything again.

As far as PIP goes, it's not about any diagnosis, but rather how your disability affects certain activities of daily living &/mobility.
His MR should try & give a couple of recent, detailed examples as to the difficulty he faces for each applicable descriptor, i.e. when did it happen, where, what happened, did anyone see this, & were there any consequences to attempting/doing an activity?
Say if he can't do an activity 'reliably,' i.e. safely, to an acceptable standard, repeat as often as one would reasonably expect, or if it takes him much longer than someone without a disability.
A MR is best put in writing, ensuring you put his name & National Insurance number on each page. Keep a copy, & get a free Certificate of Posting from your Post Office when sending it off.

Ray212

pru10 said:

 but how are people with mental health supposed to behave on the phone I don't see what that's go to do with his mental health 
Thanks for reading any advice welcomed 

Completely agree, I asked that same question myself. It's so ridiculous that they can somehow know about someone's anxiety from talking on the phone. 

Hope you get it sorted.

pru10

Hi hope everyone is well , we have done the MR and sent all requested paperwork and still a big fat no so it's in the process of going to tribunal as this is the first telephone assessment he's had the rest of his assessments were face to face we had no problems then same paperwork as we usually send in 

poppy123456

It's not unusual for the MR decision not to change. Only about 23% of them do in the claimants favour.

There's some information here about Tribunals. https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/benefits/sick-or-disabled-people-and-carers/pip/appeals/apply-to-tribunal/

You can also request the Tribunal here. https://www.gov.uk/appeal-benefit-decision/submit-appeal

I'd advise you to either request a telephone hearing, video hearing or face to face because either of those will give him the best chance of a decision in his favour.

nasturtium

Hello Pru10

If this is a PIP Review and the DWP have removed the award or have reduced the award for the Claimant then they have to outline in detail how the Claimant has improved to allow them to complete both daily living and mobility activities in according to Regulation 4 of the Social Security Personal Independence Payment Regulations 2013 Safely, repeatedly, in a timely manor and to an acceptable standard. https://pipinfo.net/issues/reliably

My advice would be to write a detailed Appeal Letter outlining all of the Claimants problems with the PIP activities and explain that the Claimants condition or restrictions have not changed since last award. Quote all supporting medical evidence you have within the letter and any upto date medical evidence.

I would also request the DWP to give detailed reasoning on why they think the Claimant has improved and is able to complete the 12 PIP activities that are applicable to the Claimant reliably under Regulation 4 of the Social Security Personal Independence Payment Regulations 2013 and what evidence they have to show the claimant has improved.

I Personally would include the following Paragraph from Case Law CPIP/2621/2016 in your Appeal Letter.

“it was not enough simply to assume that the appearance of a new PIP assessment report provided an automatic ground for supersession of the original awarding decision under regulation 26(1) of the Universal Credit, Personal Independence Payment, Jobseeker’s Allowance and Employment Support Allowance (Decisions and Appeals) Regulations 2013 (SI 2013/381; “the D & A Regulations”). It could not simply be assumed that the second PIP assessment report in some way trumped the first PIP assessment report e.g. by virtue of being more recent. The Appellant as a matter of justice was entitled to an explanation as to why his award had been terminated ahead of time – see R(M) 1/96 and SF v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (PIP) [2016] UKUT 481 (AAC) at paragraph 21.”

Here is a link to the case law you can print off and include with your detailed MR Letter https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/597af22840f0b61e4b000006/CPIP_2621_2016_corrected.pdf

You can upload you appeal letter online after you have made the appeal. See poppys link above to start your appeal online.

Please make sure you put the Claimants National Insurance Number and Name on every piece of paper at the top.

If they have not reinstated the award after MR then taking it to tribunal you stand a much better chance of the award being reinstated.

Hope that helps

Nasturtium

pru10

Hi hope everyone fine 
Just a quick question how do pip assess come to the conclusion your ok and stop your pip without actually seeing you in person thankyou

pru10

Also am I late to get a p4

OverlyAnxious

PIP assessors really aren't interested in anxiety.  They're interested in any functional limitations caused by the anxiety.  So if a claimant has a shaky voice, or stutters, or they keep forgetting what the question was, or even break down and start crying, that type of thing would all show a functional limitation on a phone call.  Sorry that's quite blunt but it is the reality of the assessment I'm afraid. 

Of course, plenty of people do still get PIP for anxiety related conditions, but the focus has to be on the functional limitations. 

You're not too late to start an appeal.

poppy123456

pru10 said:

Also am I late to get a p4

No but this isn't needed for the MR request because all it causes is a distracted to what you should concentrate on. Concentrating on the assessment report isn't going to get you a PIP award.

pru10

Hi I'm going through the tribunal appeal process at the moment this is for my son who has anxiety induced psychosis because each day is different when trying to function normally 

poppy123456

Then as you're at Tribunal stage you'll receive a copy of everything that you or he sent, which will include the assessment report, the form that was filled in and any other evidence that was sent to support the claim. This will be in the "bundle" which your son will receive eventually.

pru10

Hi hope everyone fine 
I have a update on pip out come had a phone call from pip assessor on Thursday asked a lot of questions about my son and now he has been awarded pip back so no tribunal for him he's just waiting for back payment and award letter. Thanks guys for all the support you have given not sure how long it takes for this to end and get back on track 

Jimm_Scope

Amazing to hear that @pru10