PIP STOPPED FOR NO REASON

Wally79

Ok guys so going through a strange thing at moment ill try explain best I can.. So last year I was awarded pip just standard daily living because of anxiety disorder and arthritis in my right knee.. fast forward 12 months and 7 weeks ago I reported a change in circumstances that now I have arthritis in both my knees and a few months ago I started feeling unwell and bloating quite bad and having bad fatigue after 3 blood test turns out I have a enlarged spline and enlarged liver but as it stands the doctors don’t know what’s causing it and I’m due to see a specialist soon.. This is were the issue starts after reporting this to pip now all of a sudden my pip as been stopped!! How have they come to the decision that my situation as got worse which means I’m no longer entitled to pip ? My issue is if I hadn’t reported my change I would still now as we speak still be receiving my standard daily living so how can a change for the worse all of a sudden make a decision maker think I’m no longer entitled? Makes absolutely no sense to me and seems totally wrong!

OverlyAnxious

Hi,

PIP is about functional ability, it's not about conditions or any diagnosis.

From what you've written here, I can't see any decline in practical ability that applies to the descriptors.

When you make a Change of Circumstances, your whole claim is looked at again. Unless you can specifically state where you should score more points - enough to be awarded more PIP - then there is absolutely no point in risking your award by making a Change of Circumstances.

Unfortunately you will now have to go through the Mandatory Reconsideration process in order to try and regain a PIP award. If that doesn't work then you can go on to tribunal afterwards.

Wally79

yes I understand what your saying but my point is my condition haven’t improved since been awarded pip last year and I was awarded for 3 years so even though I reported the change of circumstances that’s doesn’t change the affect that I was awarded pip for in the first place.. they haven’t taken into consideration why I was on pip in the first place and have totally ignored my current illness that got me pip in the first place

Rosie_Scope

Really sorry to hear you've lost your PIP @Wally79, it's a horrible system sometimes.

Unfortunately, after a change of circumstances the new decision overrides the old one even if the award hadn't run out yet. So the information that you shared during your change of circumstances would have been taken into account rather than the original information from when you first claimed.

Each decision maker is different too. So even if you personally feel you have got worse, if the new assessor and decision maker didn't feel there was enough evidence to score you on the points system, they would have made their decision based on that. By saying that, I'm not agreeing with them or trying to blame you, just trying to explain how things might have gone wrong. I can totally understand your frustration.

Have you requested a copy of the assessment report to see what they said?

The next step would be to challenge them in a Mandatory Reconsideration and explain where you feel you should have scored points. There's some advice here that might be useful to you: Appealing a benefits decision | Disability charity Scope UK

And we often recommend trying to speak to a professional benefits advisor if you can. They should be able to take a look at what's happened and support you through the next steps. There's a tool to find local help here: Turn2Us - AdviceFinder