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Has the DWP changed the rules on mental health
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Hi has DWP changed the rules for pip on mental health physiological stress ?
Replies
In March 2017 the DWP amended the "Planning and following journeys" descriptor to exclude people from satisfying 1c, 1d and 1f if they only needed help because of "overwhelming psychological distress".
Recently the high court decided that this amendment was unlawful. Last week the DWP confirmed it would not appeal against the high court's decision so the descriptors are back to as they were before March 2017 which is excellent news.
The DWP have continually stated that the policy intention was for the descriptors to apply to those with sensory impairments (for example) rather than those who needed someone with them because of anxiety but they hadn't included that in the wording until the March 2017 amendments, and those amendments were found to be unlawful.
Lee
I would expect that by the time the DWP get round to making the actual decision on your mum's PIP they will know about the current legal position. Therefore, yes, the planning and following a journey activity should be considered in its pre-March 2017 state and can take psychological distress into account.
If the DWP decision was considered before the Secretary of State's very recent announcement then it should be looked at again (by the DWP) to make sure your mum doesn't lose out on any mobility component award (standard or enhanced) she should have got under the old version of the regulations.
Will
This is a good question.
The descriptors in question are in Planning and Following a Journey and specifically, 1c., 1d and 1f. The pre March descriptors which should now be followed were:
1c. Cannot plan the route of a journey. 8 points.
1d. Cannot follow the route of an unfamiliar journey without another person, assistance dog or orientation aid. 10 points.
1f. Cannot follow the route of a familiar journey without another person, an assistance dog or an orientation aid. 12 points.
The decision letter lists the descriptors awarded, as such only if points are awarded for the descriptor 1c, 1d and 1f and it details the descriptor as above will you know that the recent court decision has been followed.
If no points are awarded, or different descriptors then the decision is unlikely to reveal in enough detail if a decision maker has followed the recent court decision. You can ask for an explanation of the decision, but the explanations I have seen are again not that detailed. The best way to get a fuller understanding is if you request a copy of the medical assessment, this will reveal what descriptors were considered as they list in full all the descriptors. Do not however let waiting for a copy of a medical assessment delay you requesting a Mandatory reconsideration beyond the 1 month time limit if you disagree with the PIP decision.
Keep us posted.
Maria
I think you'll find that in life outside the DWP that's called "Blackmail"! - not that I'm cynical at all
So now we all have to suffer.
CR
Cockey Rebel has given excellent advice on this thread and I can't add any more to it apart from to leeCal, the DWP amended the descriptors in March 2017 so it's only decisions from that date onwards that they need to look at again to see whether they were wrong. In my experience the DWP have always been considering 1c, 1d and 1f excluding "overwhelming psychological distress" even before the descriptor amendments so I can't see how anything will change in their decision making now.
Lee