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PIP assessment at home
Thanks for letting me join! I have a PIP assessment at home due on 10 March by Capita and quite frankly, I am terrified.
i will look through the forum to hopefully learn more about what to expect. Thanks!
i will look through the forum to hopefully learn more about what to expect. Thanks!
Replies
Senior online community officer
I think it's natural to be nervous, but it really wasn't that bad for me!
did you get yours or are you still waiting?
Sorry everyone that I wasn't able to get back here earlier to thank you for your welcome posts! Thank you!!!
do i tell them when i have my home assessment soon that OT okd walkin shower room i have letters and plans from OT just waiting for them to start is this new evidence as i cannot use the way my bathroom is at moment i have a carer.
they are interested in the help you need to do the different activities.if you have a career make sure they know all the help you need from them too. Good luck!
I was asked a series of questions about my daily life and I answered them in my living room, explaining the help I get from my girlfriend who cares for me. I didn't show them around the flat, just explained everything with my life on a typical day and answered the questions fully focusing on the daily difficulties and what things are like on my worst days. I was sat for the entire duration in my wheelchair at my computer.
Fortunately the home assessment visit didn't require me to do any tasks, the assessor was a former district nurse so I felt that she was very understanding of things. I made sure my dog was kept in another room and my parrot was locked up to try and make things comfortable for the assessor as well.
I didn't really reflect on or refer to positives much at all, the "I can"'s were always elaborated to stress any difficulties doing them and the dangers, no matter how proud I am at being able to do certain tasks. This is because the assessment is to get a picture of what your life is like so they can make the best informed decision that they can. It needs to be clear to them what barriers you are facing on a daily or more frequent basis.
One thing to prepare was we (myself and carer) looked at the PIP assessment guidelines before the assessment and spoke about the kinds of things that were coming up. It was helpful to go over things that I avoid on a daily basis without really realising it, or realising it is a barrier to doing something. For example, I don't cook at all because its often dangerous for me, if I am alone on any occasion I often order in, instead or buy a sandwich etc. It's just become second nature to me some of the adjustments I make that I don't always think of them as a barrier. But they can be useful on your application when you explain why that is, and why you couldn't do x y z otherwise.
As it turned out, I was awarded the higher rate care and mobility for a continuous period (10 years), an increase on my DLA infinite award (middle rate care, higher rate mobility). As much as I hope my advice above might help, I'm also grateful and aware that I may have been lucky in who assessed me as well.
All the best in your home assessment, I hope it goes well. Fingers crossed!