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Lost lower rate mobility PIP - the assessor decided I could do all the things I said I couldn't

becca39

I was called in 9 months early for the review of pip and reassessed. My health conditions have dramatically deteriorating in that I can no longer walk without crutches and am in excruciating pain all the time. I don't go upstairs during the day as it's too painful and it takes me 10 mins to meet my daughter from school across the road, something that previously took around 1-2 minutes.
I have psychosis and major depression which severely impacts my ability to function and of course the high doses of medication don't help with cognitive function etc.
I previously received lower rate mobility, awarded until next July and now due to this assessment it's been removed! I can't understand how as I explained all the difficulties I have but the assessor decided I could do all the things I said I couldn't!! Said I had normal memory and cognitive function although I explained I couldn't read for long or concentrate.
She appears to have dismissed everything I said and made her own mind up about how my life is?!
I hadn't had the opportunity to fill in a questionnaire as the first one sent back was lost in the post and they never sent me another. I did ask to postpone the assessment until I had the questionnaire but wasn't allowed, I was told I could answer all the questions when I was there.
I feel like I've been made out to be a liar, they didn't even ask for any additional medical evidence from my DR's.
Sorry this was a very long message but I'm feeling so disappointed and fed up about it!

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Comments

mcrcs

I can relate to what you have gone through, I myself lost high rate mobility and middle rate care that was awarded indefinitely. Under this new Pip system thousands of disabled people have been labeled as liers. I applied for the mandatory review only for the same typed decision letter to be sent out more or less straight away in duplicate. I have sent an appeal letter in but with the way the system is failing people I don't hold out much hope. This is a legal way for the government to cut disability benefits like they wanted. I've lost everything housing / council tax benefits even lost my carer. These decision s are making people worse both health wise and financially.

Debbie_Alumni

Hi @becca39,

Sorry to hear about your PIP review and subsequent decision that you have no entitlement.

It's standard practice for the DWP to start the review process 1 year before the award ends, although they can review the award at anytime. So although it seems early and it is, it's the normal part of the process.

There is quite a lot to challenge here and I hope that you're intending to appeal. You have to go through the Mandatory Reconsideration process first and you have to request an MR within one month of the date of the decision. From what we hear on the front line and from all the statistics available, most decision remain unchanged at MR stage. However there is a huge difference once claimants get to appeal at tribunal and the latest statistics show a PIP success rate of 65%.

So first things first. Go through the decision letter, see which points (if any) have been awarded. Look at the descriptors and see which ones you feel are more applicable to your ability to complete that activity.

Apply the reliability criteria and this is extremely important and from what we hear on the ground it's not routinely applied by healthcare assessors.

Reliability has four components each of which must be satisfied in order for an activity to be undertaken ‘reliably’. The
four components are:

Safely
To an acceptable standard
Repeatedly
In a reasonable time

Activities must be performed safely. This means you must be able to undertake them in a way that is unlikely to cause harm to you or anyone else. This could be either during or after you have done the activity. For the purpose of PIP, something is unsafe only if harm is likely to occur; it is not sufficient for you to feel harm may occur.

They must be performed to an acceptable standard. This means that the task must be done to a standard that would reasonably be acceptable to most people.

lt should be possible to undertake the activity repeatedly. This means as often as reasonably required. For example if you are able to prepare a meal once without help, but the exhaustion from doing this means that you could not prepare another meal that day, you would be treated as being unable to prepare a meal unaided. This is because it is reasonable to expect someone to be able to prepare more than one meal a day.

The activities can be completed in a reasonable time. This means not more than twice as long as the maximum amount of time that a person without your health condition or impairment would normally take to complete that activity.

The ‘reliability’ criteria must be considered for each activity and will be considered as an integral part of the information-gathering process whether at a face-to-face consultation or during a paper-based review.

You can also read the PIP assessment guidance for Providers and this outlines everything the assessor needs to do when assessing and making a report.

They must have read through your paper claim form and all evidence provided. They should accept and read through any additional evidence you provide at the assessment. If you feel that you weren't given the opportunity to fully explain how your disability affects you at the assessment then you need to challenge every single thing you don't agree with. It will take some work to go through it all and pick it apart but it's worthwhile doing this.

If you can secure the help of a welfare benefits adviser this will be incredibly helpful. They can help you apply the PIP legislation to your claim. It's also worth looking at some PIP case law which is building quite quickly and we expect much more to come.

http://pipinfo.net/ is a new tool which is really very helpful and is aimed at advisers but it's definitely useful for anyone.

See also the 'How to win a PIP appeal' guide from AdviceNow which is a great guide and takes you through the whole process. They even have a tool which will help you to generate a Mandatory Reconsideration letter.

I hope this helps and please do come back to me if you have any further questions.

Best wishes
Debbie