PIP Reveiw - New Claim or Update?

carlotavixtoria

Hi all, I got awarded in Jan 2017, for 5 years, enchanced for both. Then got extended 12 months due to covid. I have very severe and complex medical needs due to a tumour growing condition, which will be lifelong. I was previously awarded in 2016, standard daily living, which I wrote to them to reconsider my claim when I got severely unwell following a surgery, which is when they gave me enchanced for both for 5 years.

My PIP forms are in and I have until 29th Oct to get them in by. Obviously I was happy with the last result, but nervous for the review. I have since only gotten much much worse.

So far in my forms, I have been writing my health history from scratch, rather than only the recent things that they are not informed of, as I heard when writing a review, we should treat it as a new claim, like they have no idea of my condition. I have obviously backed it up with evidence, evidence in the form of hospital letters, reasons, and concequences, aids, assistance, etc. So I have rammed them with constant non stop evidance and proof and reason of how my disability affects me from the last 10 years. My health is not going to improve. Im onyl 26. 

Can anyone advice if IM doing this correctly? I wanted to check if writing it as if it was a new claim was correct or not. LIke I said, I have included evidence of issues they know about from the last time I had an assesment, and all the new info. 

Thanks x

poppy123456

Yes treating it as a new claim is correct. However, telling them your life story isn't needed and you need to keep it relevant to the PIP descriptors. 

Also i'd advise you to include a couple of real world incidents of exactly what happened the last time you attempted each descriptor that applies to you. Adding detailed information such as where you were, what exactly happened, did anyone see it and what the consequences were.

For extra evidence, less is often more and sending multiple pieces of evidence all saying the same thing isn't helpful. For this reason i'd advise you to look through everything and ask yourself is that helpful and is it relevant to the PIP descriptors. If it isn't then is it really needed?

carlotavixtoria

poppy123456 said:

Yes treating it as a new claim is correct. However, telling them your life story isn't needed and you need to keep it relevant to the PIP descriptors. 

Also i'd advise you to include a couple of real world incidents of exactly what happened the last time you attempted each descriptor that applies to you. Adding detailed information such as where you were, what exactly happened, did anyone see it and what the consequences were.

For extra evidence, less is often more and sending multiple pieces of evidence all saying the same thing isn't helpful. For this reason i'd advise you to look through everything and ask yourself is that helpful and is it relevant to the PIP descriptors. If it isn't then is it really needed?

AH yes, ok I understand. I have mentioned three major surgeries I have had, only because it explains  my disabilities, and then I can go onto why I cannot do a certain thing.

SUch as, I told them I have a spine surgery which resulted in me losing all my muscle mass, dexeirty, movement etc, and then went onto to explain how these pernament disabilities affect each descriptor they ask (such as being unable to preapre and cook food, due to weakness, numbness, paralysis, loss of motor skills), and then explained why it was dangerous for me to do this task, and what help and assistance I get due to not being physucally able.

Does that sound ok?

Thank you so much

poppy123456

If you're explaining why it's dangerous and what "may" happen if you complete that activity then that isn't helpful because it's known as an assertion, rather than a real world incident. You need to explain what exactly happened the last time you attempted each descriptor that applies to you.

For returning the forms you can ring to ask for extra time and they will extend it by another 2 weeks. I agree with woodbine above though to make sure it's sent with plenty of time for them to receive it. Proof of posting is all that's needed and this is free from any post office. Oh and don't forget to put your name and NI number on everything you send. Keep copies for yourself and never send original documents, only copies.

carlotavixtoria

poppy123456 said:

If you're explaining why it's dangerous and what "may" happen if you complete that activity then that isn't helpful because it's known as an assertion, rather than a real world incident. You need to explain what exactly happened the last time you attempted each descriptor that applies to you.

For returning the forms you can ring to ask for extra time and they will extend it by another 2 weeks. I agree with woodbine above though to make sure it's sent with plenty of time for them to receive it. Proof of posting is all that's needed and this is free from any post office. Oh and don't forget to put your name and NI number on everything you send. Keep copies for yourself and never send original documents, only copies.

Thank you. I have one more question if thats ok - when im awnsering these questions, is there any point in saying what surgery caused the disabilities that cause me to struggle within that task? ive been writing what surgery, what date and what disability within each question. not sure if this is a waste of time since it will be written down anyway at the start of the form?

poppy123456

There's no point in writing all of that for every question, as you said yourself you will have told them at the start of the form.

Jimm_Scope

Hi @carlotavixtoria, welcome to our online community I hope you're doing well! I'm sorry to hear your health has not done well since last time you got PIP.

 You've already received great advice, on the topic of real world examples I do agree with Poppy. It's really good to say incidents that have happened. For example I say when cooking and with my ADHD I can often lose focus and forget to turn things off, such as ovens or hobs. This has happened before where I left a gas hob on after I finished cooking, this caused damage to some of our utensils and is in general a fire hazard. I've left the oven on too, and forgotten about and burnt food. The real examples can be used to show the issues you have and that these occur the majority of the time.

Alanjc

I started my pip claim on the 16th August how long does the process take 

poppy123456

Alanjc said:

I started my pip claim on the 16th August how long does the process take 

6 months, maybe longer. There’s really no timescales, it’s depends on backlogs and each individual case.