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Pip help. URGENT!

chilli50

Hi. I need you fabulous people to give me some advice. At the end of Oct last year I rang pip to update my current claim as my situation had worsened. They sent out a p2p form for me to fill in which I did and sent back. It wasn't recieved. A second set was sent back and again not received. I should have sent recorded I realise now. My pip was stopped. At the end of Jan I was rushed into hospital with pneumonia and flu at the same time as my mum. I came out still very ill after 4 days but would recover. My mum was told she had lung cancer and had weeks to live. I tried my best to care for her until she died on 14th march. Yet another set of forms were filled in and these were actually recieved on 31 march. I have just spent another 8 days in hospital again with pneumonia and have been told I have severe lung damage which won't repair and very severe copd. I rang pip yesterday and have been told I will need a face to face meeting but I won't get a letter telling me when til mid-late May! I own my own home, have fought off several eviction orders in the last 8 years since becoming I'll and the mortgage company haven't had a payment from me since my pip was stopped. They are getting very impatient with me now. I'm trying to survive on 307 a month. I suffer from fibromyalgia, me, anxiety, depression, arthritis, the copd, damage to my sacro iliac joint in my back, raynauds and several more issues. I'm just so worried. I also have ptsd from my mum's death and my daughter's suicide 3 years ago. I don't know how much more I can take. Can anyone give me any advice as to what I can do? Thanks in advance. This is obviously very urgent as I'm starting to feel like I can't go on much longer

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Comments

wildlife

@chilli50, Welcome to the community. What a terrible time you've been having. It's no excuse for DWP to say they didn't receive your 2 claim forms. Yes it's better to send things recorded delivery but that costs more. I suggest you make a note of everything you've done so far with dates or as much information as you can and ring DWP to say you want to make an official complaint. If they tell you to write a letter say you'll do it after you've spoken to someone as you haven't got time right now. They are in the wrong for losing your claim form and stopping your PIP when you'd applied on time and sent your claim form to them. The onus is on them to find it. To lose two is even worse. So now they've got a third claim they need to hurry it through. If you don't feel able to ring yourself contact your MP. There are designated lines at DWP just for MP's to ring on people's behalf.
You could also see if CAB will help but there's usually a long wait. Your claim will probably be with an Assessment company either ATOS or CAPITA. Find out which one if you don't already know and ring them as well. Don't be fobbed off. You've done nothing wrong. It's disgusting that you have been treated like this. If you leave it as it is you will be missing out on having your PIP back dated to when you sent the 1st application which will help pay off your mortgage arrears. When you've phoned try and write 2 letters, one to DWP complaints and one to ATOS/Capita complaints. There will be some benefit advisors around tomorrow so hang on in there. Keep posting and others will be along to help...

wildlife

Hi me again, If you're really struggling you can also ring the Samaritans. Do hope tomorrow brings better news...X

chilli50

Hi. Thank you so much for your reply! I've fired off an email to my 3 local MPs to see if they can help. I'll get onto a letter of complaint today and have also rung and left a message for cab to contact me. I'm so grateful for your answer. I cried myself to sleep last night as I just messaged didn't see what I could do so your advice is very welcome indeed! I'll let you know what happens. Thank you again x

Sam_Alumni

Hi @chilli50 Im sorry you are having such a tough time, if you need to speak to someone you can call the Scope helpline on 0808 800 3333, they do get very busy so you may have to try a couple of times but they have a vast wealth of experience and they can offer information and support.

wildlife

Hi @chilli50 Good for you. So pleased you've found the strength to start sorting this out. Hopefully that will make you feel better. You're not on your own as Sam says there's always someone online here or at the other end of the phone. We need to let DWP and the Private assessment companies know they're not just dealing with numbers we are real people with health problems and what they're doing is making them worse. Let us know how you get on.

chilli50

Hi Sam and wildlife. Thanks again for your replies. I've been referred to mental health re the state I'm in over mum and daughters death. I received a call this morning but missed it. I've called back but they weren't available so waiting for a call back. I need to update dwp yet again about this and also me being in hospital again hospital but I'm scared it will trigger yet more forms. Should I do this? I do have evidence for it which states I have very severe copd and severe lung damage. I have gastritis and all this has triggered flares of this and my fibro so I'm feeling distinctly unwell right now! Also although I've sent emails to my MPs stating what's going on it's in more details than I've put here. I do need to send in letters of complaint but to be honest I've no idea what to write. My brain isn't connecting very well today. At least I've got the ball rolling! Should I call dwp and the assessor and tell them I'm going to complain or should I just write? Thanks again for your help. I think I would have just given up if it wasn't for you!? X

chilli50

Apologies. I've just st read your reply again. lol call the dwp now and let them know what I'm going to do. I think another 6 weeks or so is ridiculous! I need to call my mortgage company and also a loan company and let them know what's going on too. My anxiety makes it extremely difficult for me to talk to strangers so I hope I can get through the call! I can't keep saying thank you enough! X

chilli50

Hi
i called dwp and told them what was going on. They told me that I should give atos a call and see if I can fast track the f2f. They have forms received on 31/03/17. I told them I've emailed my mp and will be sending in a letter of complaint. My last payment was apparently for £32 on 7/2/17. Called atos and they told me that dwp shouldn't have said the f2f date would be around 6 weeks from now as they aren't in a position to tell me that. Atos reiceved my form on 13/04/17 and it needs to be looked at by an assessor who might decide that I don't even need a f2f and to call Friday to see if there's an update. They can fast track a f2f if needed to around 7 days then a decision in around 14 days so the timescale should be roughly around 3 weeks for the assessor to look at my forms, decide if a f2f is needed, have one if it is and send a letter to me with the decision. I told them I've emailed my mp too as I think this is ridiculous. I asked them about sending evidence in to prove my situation has worsened yet again and they said this could trigger even more forms and it might be best to wait and see about the assessment. I'm even more confused than I was before. Do I send the proof in or not? I just don't have a clue! Oh heck! I'm gonna get the letters of complaint in as it seems that nobody can really tell me anything except just to hang on and see what they say on Friday..... Cab have called me back. I need to go to the drop in centre tomorrow with all the information I can so I'm going to see if I can get myself there. It will be a struggle as I'm agoraphobic and only go to any medical appointments and even they are a struggle! Does this sound like a good thing to do or should I hang on and see what they're going to say? From what I can figure, my forms haven't even been looked at yet... The thing is, the new information on my situation seems very relevant to me but I'm TERRIFIED of extending the time it will take. I hope this all makes sense to you....

Justice

Hi Chille I have just seen your posts. I am so sorry you are going through all this, the stress must be horrendous. If you can possibly manage to get to CAB you should try to, once you have them on board it will take some of the stress from you. Perhaps telephone your MP too instead of just a mail. I know it's hard speaking on the phone when you are so stressed, but from personal experience I have found our MP to be a great help, and Wildlife is right, they do have a hotline to the DWP which saves you hanging on the phone for ages waiting for them to answer your call. I think too that if the MP is involved it makes DWP sit up and take notice a bit more.

have you anyone you can take with you to the CAB, that would help you relax a little? I think wildlife also mentioned Samaritans. They don't give advice of course, but they listen. I have used them myself, usually when pacing the floor at 3 am or some other silly o clock. They are great, and one time I got an Irish Lady who had me in fits of laughter, I then couldn't sleep because I kept giggling thinking about what she has said :-)
Keep posting here Chille, let us know how it goes, you have come so far, don't let the B******s grind you down x

wildlife

Hi @chilli50 Just catching up with you after a busy day. Sounds like you've been busy too. You've done a brilliant job and things are moving in the right direction. If you find your head spinning try to take a few moments to sit down and write on a scrap of paper what is happening and when. In answer to your question about what to tell DWP about your hospital visits and worsening health I wouldn't tell them when you phone as you'll only be talking to an advisor and they might say you have to do another claim on a change of circumstances and you can't afford for that to happen. The general rule once you've claimed is that they are assessing you from then on as you were at the time you made that claim so if you're telling them about something connected to an illness or disability you had then you shouldn't be risking doing another claim. But I wouldn't trust a DWP advisor to know the difference. I hope this makes sense. You may be able to talk about all the things that have happened at your assessment but then again they have standard questions with tick box answers so just be careful. It's OK to mention being in hospital with Pneumonia say but a new diagnosis would definitely mean a new claim. Let us know when you get a date for your f2f if you need one and we can advise you how to get through it with the best possible outcome. Is there someone who could go with you? If you go on your own they will say you can travel alone and walk with no trouble and having another person gives a strong message that you do need help. About the complaints don't worry if you can't write letters now as these are a long term thing once they start investigating. The main thing is you've said you're going to complain which puts pressure on them to take action on your claim.Try to get to the CAB as @justice said it'll help big time to have someone else on board. Keep posting.....XXX

wildlife

Hi @chilli50 How are you getting on with sorting out your benefit claim? Hope you're OK...x

BenefitsTrainingCo

Hi @chilli50

Apologies for the delay in response to this! There's been a lot of very useful posts from the community on this in the past few days, and I would like to re-iterate a useful legal point made by @justice ...don't let the b******s grind you down!!

You look like you are already taking all the steps I would advise:-

-complaint to the DWP re losing your forms and the general handling of your claim - be specific in the losses (financial and otherwise) you have suffered as a result.

-get the MP on side, as they are the only people who seem to be able to get the DWP (otherwise a total law unto themselves) to do their bidding.

-get help from the CAB or other local agency not only with the PIP, but crucially also with the debt issues, as if someone is dealing with the mortgage company etc for you it really will take the weight off - if your CAB can't assist, do find another local source - ask at the CAB who you could try if they can't help.

-get on to ATOS to expedite your medical.

As regards letting PIP know about changes in your condition, I'd say yes do so. Bear in mind that at present no decision has been made, so I would drop them a letter together with any relevant medical evidence just explaining what deterioration there has been and how this affects you - doesn't need to be really long, but just means that if they fail to properly account for this in the decision then you could appeal.

Very best of luck and do let us know both if you need any more specific advice, as well as how you get on!

Kind regards,

Mary

Sam_Alumni

Hi @chilli50 I just wondered how you were getting on?

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