PIP video interview

Alfteddy

Anyone have any tips? I applied for pip when I was diagnosed with SONK Osteonecrosis/Osteoarthritis 
in September. luckily i had a cancellation for TLR in December - will I still be eligible for PIP - recovery after 4 weeks is a struggle
tia

poppy123456

PIP isn't awarded based on any diagnosis. Do you currently have a PIP award?

Alfteddy

Hi Poppy 
No I do not have an award yet...
I was diagnosed in October and thought I would try PIP as I was losing a lot if time from work -  July to October. I managed to pay privately to see consultant and was immediately put on the list and had operation at the start of December. I must say recovery is terrible and I'm on week 4. Not sure hiw to proceed with the interview on Monday?
Thanks

chiarieds

Hi @Alfteddy - did you mean you had a total knee replacement (TKR)? This does take some time to recover from if that's the case; just keep on doing your exercises a little & often.

Alfteddy

Thank you. Just wondering if I would be PIP worthy ad im really struggling like before my operation

chiarieds

Everyone is entitled to claim PIP, but we can't know who would be awarded. As poppy says, PIP isn't about a diagnosis rather whether you have difficulty with the activities/descriptors that are looked at.

As you have to have had such difficulty for at least 3 months, & just having had surgery 4 weeks ago then this wouldn't be considered, so your assessment will be based on your PIP claim form. Remember even those with the same diagnosis, or having gone through similar surgery, will all be affected differently, so you need to describe your own individual set of functional problems. With your upcoming PIP assessment:

- If you have kept a copy of your initial claim form, have a read through it beforehand.

 - Ideally you should have given 1 or 2 recent, detailed examples of the difficulty you face doing/attempting each applicable activity/descriptor that is looked at with PIP, i.e. when exactly did this occur, where, what exactly happened, why did you have difficulty, did anyone else see this, & were there any consequences to this, if applicable?

 - have a look at the PIP descriptors in this link, reading the notes at the end. The word 'reliably,' which is so important, isn't mentioned as such, but it's if you can't do an activity safely, to an acceptable standard, if you can't repeat it as often as would normally be expected, or if it takes you longer than a person without your disability. If you can't do an activity 'reliably,' say so, explaining why. Please see: https://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/asset-library/personal-independence-payment-descriptors-and-scores-april-2023.pdf

 - see if there were any gaps where you didn't give those important detailed examples for each applicable PIP activities/descriptors in your initial claim form. Try to include these in your assessment if asked about any

 - you may be asked questions which you feel don't directly address the PIP descriptors, but they will, sometimes looking across a few, e.g. do you drive, do you have a pet?

- if you're unsure about any question, just ask for it to be repeated. Take your time in answering, & don't just answer yes or no.

- make sure your phone is fully charged, & if you'd like someone there to support you, put your phone on speaker phone so they can listen in. Good luck.

Alfteddy

Thank you so much! Unfortunately with everything going on I can't find a copy of the form! But I'm sure my answers won't differ.

chiarieds

You're very welcome. Let us know how your assessment goes

Alfteddy

I certainly will, however I'm disappointed that I can't use the situation I am in now as looking at the descriptors I would qualify for more😣

poppy123456

Your claim will be based on how you are at the time the assessment took place. However, you also still need to pass the forward test and you need to expect the difficulties to last at least a further 9 months. Having just had knee surgery, my concern would be, will you still have those difficulties 9 months down the line.

As you've also just had surgery then the difficulties you are experiencing because of that will not be taken into consideration because as advised, it was only 4 weeks ago. It's perfectly normal for your conditions to get worse before you could see any possible improvement after surgery.

Alfteddy

Thanks again