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Is it possible to send too much evidence?

strokecarer

My husband had his PIP review and scored zero points. My first thought was how could they not even give him 2 points for eating/drinking when the medical records I sent them contain at least 6 quotes from various health professionals saying that there is a concern about his risk of choking (he has seizures when he eats)?! When I started writing up notes for his mandatory reconsideration, I started with pulling out quotes from recent medical records that I feel have been ignored. Then after reading advice on this forum, I started writing anecdotes for the various categories, like 'what happened when he tried this in the past'. But if someone didn't really read all the evidence in the first place, would they see my long explanations and just not bother to read them?

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Comments

anisty

They definitely take notice of anecdotal examples. What they don't like is screeds of medical results and letters that don't bear relevance to the descriptors.

You need to look at each descriptor and think about what it is asking.

It's a while since i filled a form in and i can't recall the descriptors.

From memory - preparing a simple meal is one. Anything about feeding and choking would not score there as the question is about ability to prepare a meal.

Think carefully about what each question really means and pull out evidence to show what is stopping ability for each one.

The benefits and work site is well worth joining if you can afford £19.95. They have a downloadable guide to walk you through each descriptor.

poppy123456

The majority of the forms I fill in contain mostly anecdotal evidence. Yes, it's possible to send in too much medical evidence, especially if there's multiple pieces all saying the same thing or the evidence you've sent isn't relevant to the descriptors.

This may help, please have a read.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/personal-independence-payment-assessment-guide-for-assessment-providers/pip-assessment-guide-part-2-the-assessment-criteria#daily-living-activities

anisty

Poppy is indeed brilliant and gives of her time very generously.

But, the £19.95 doesn't just get you the one guide; it's for all the guides and also buys a full year's membership to the B&W site. Handy for time when Poppy is putting her feet up and taking a break😉

i didn't know about the b&w site when i filled out my son's pip application, and nor did i know about Scope.

I discovered b&w first, after posting the pip application which was a bit unfortunate as i had just written about my son from the heart - and then spent 4 months in knots thinking i'd really failed him.

Some sensible bloke on b&w chummed me through.

And then of course i found Scope and never looked back. I don't subscribe to b&w now. I just had the one year's membership. But, for £19.95, i'd say it's well worth it.

Just for the times that Poppy's taking some time out🙂

strokecarer

Thank you all @anisty @noman @poppy123456 for your relpies. Have taken it on board. Much appreciated!

Jimm_Alumni

Best of luck with the MR @strokecarer! Remember that we are here if you have further questions or if you have to go onto a tribunal appeal 🙂