Newbie to PIP

BarneyTeddyBear

Hello, I am just wondering do you always have a telephone assessment following PIP? I filled in the online forms today, and just wondered what happens next? I suffered a Takotsubo cardiomyopathy (Medical term for a broken Heart) in July following the death of my Mum and ended up in critical care for a week, I feel like I am a walking time bomb and it will happen again if I get too stressed.  Maybe I shouldn't have applied as this is stressing me out even more!  Thanks in advance

bg844

There are 3 different assessment types, telephone, video call or face-to-face. If you get an assessment type that isn't suitable to you then you can phone the assessment provider using the contact details on a letter they send you and they will change it. You should expect to receive notice of an assessment within 8 weeks of receiving a text message from IAS/Capita.

The other assessment type is paper-based, this is rare to have but means they have enough information and evidence to assess you without having to see you. Don't bank on having one and prepare and expect an assessment. They're not bad in my opinion anyway as it gives you a great opportunity to explain how your conditions affect your daily living and mobility activities in further and greater detail to what has been written on your form.

BarneyTeddyBear

Thank you for your reply, much appreciated

Jimm_Alumni

Hi @BarneyTeddyBear, welcome to the scope community PIP assessments can be a scary prospect, especially if they are via a method you aren't comfortable with. Thankfully you can ask to change to face-to-face, telephone or video, whichever of the 3 is preferred. Scope have a section on preparing for your assessment Preparing for PIP assessment | Disability charity Scope UK. I hope reading through that will help you understand the process and make it a bit less stressful

BarneyTeddyBear

Hi thank you for that, I am getting concerned now though as I filled in forms yesterday, had text at 8am saying received, and 8pm tonight had text from IAS saying they will be managing my my PIP assessment?  Seems very quick to me, that now I am worrying that they think it is a critical illness and fast tracking it? When I was researching my claim for PIP and my illness on one website it said that I could only have 12 months to live?  Is this too soon to get a text?  Starting to get really bad panic attacks and finding it hard to breath again! 

Hannah_Alumni

@BarneyTeddyBear Sometimes they are standard texts. You may hear something sooner and sometimes hear something in a few weeks / months. 

Please don't panic. I hope the community can be a support for you here