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Recent PIP claim for nerve injury

Pedge1511

Hi all,

Hope everyone is okay.

I just had a quick query over my recent PIP decision.

I suffer from depression but not to the extend that it stopped me from working, spending time with family etc.

In April I suffered a fall which resulted in the loss of feeling and movement in my lower right leg. I can no longer drive so had to change job to work from home. The impact this has had on my life has been significant. I struggle to walk, get up stairs and even get ready in the morning.

My sciatic nerve has been severed in my thigh and doctors have said it’s likely I may never regain feeling or movement in my left leg. I won’t go into too much detail but on a hospital appointment they recommended I apply for PIP to assist with my everyday needs.

I had the interview and today received notification that I am only eligible for the lowest form of mobility allowance and nothing else.

I have informed them I will be appealing. However I was hoping for some assistance on what I should be saying in my appeal. The assessor seemed to focus on my mental health, not the paralysis in my right leg. I walk with a walking aid and have a splint which attaches to my calf and thigh to assist with walking. However the assessor didn’t even acknowledge this.

I have multiple hospital diagnoses from 3 different hospitals and provided all the evidence at the time. I’m really at a loss as to why they have scored me so low.

Does anybody else suffer from this? I felt that the interview changed when I told her I was still able to work from home. I have been an estate agent for over 15 years. I now struggle to walk and can’t drive anymore so can only sit in my office and book other agents appointments. I feel she penalised me for this.

Any advice would be greatly received

thanks

Peter

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Comments

Sakura

Hi Peter, hope you’re okay?!

I can’t offer any advice but I just wanted to let you know that you are not alone with this.

I applied in Dec 2022 and was awarded standard mobility only. The assessor seemed to focus on my mental health rather than my nerve damage which stops me from doing simple everyday tasks. When I told them that I work from home as I can’t travel anymore, the interview changed completely.

The report mentions nothing about my nerve damage, medication and how both of those affect my day to day life. It just focuses on my mental health.

I appealed and I’m still waiting for a tribunal date to come through.

chiarieds

Hi @Pedge1511 & @Sakura - & welcome both of you to the community. As PIP isn't about any diagnoses, rather the impact your disabilities have on your daily life, I feel it's entirely possible that the assessor didn't reference your physical problems, as your diagnoses would not be in dispute. It's also likely that you both well documented your physical problems, including your nerve damage, so there was no need to question this.

There's often not enough time to go through everything that was in your initial claim form, & as assessments are in order to get more information, then your assessors were likely rather trying to find out more about any other difficulties you'd both mentioned, including your mental health.

@Pedge1511 - The first stage of appealing is called a Mandatory Reconsideration (MR) where another decision maker will look at everything again. Please put this in writing.
Remember PIP is about how you are the majority of the time. Have a look again at the activities/descriptors that are looked at: https://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/asset-library/personal-independence-payment-descriptors-and-scores-april-2023.pdf
With your MR you should say where you think you should have got points, & why giving a couple of recent, detailed examples as to the difficulty you face 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 you 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 you much longer than someone without a disability. See this mentioned at the end of the link above.
Put your name & National Insurance number on each page. Keep a copy, & get a free Certificate of Posting from your Post Office when sending it off.

Rosie_Scope

Hi @Pedge1511, I think chiarieds has given you some great advice so far, but just wanted to say welcome to the community. I hope your appeal goes well.

And the same to you, @Sakura. Welcome!

Fingers crossed you both get the results you need soon. Keep us updated on your progress