Pip DL1, 7 and 9.

robcarert

hello, my wife has recently received her pip assessment report (no award decision as yet, though PA4 indicates 11/10 points)

i am questioning a few things I find incorrect, although on the whole it’s reletavely accurate.

activity 1:

my wife needs supervision to prepare or cook a meal, the assessor has relied on the MSE (which as far as I can discern from my memory of the assessment, was not conducted, including concentrating for the entire assessment) and claims of reports of safety issues due to hazard awareness and concentration issues as ‘inconsistent’ (it’s not, the only inconsistency with them is that she has claimed it is.

she has also claimed because she does puzzles (though never asked for how long, if she completes them or how many she does) and that she uses the internet to listen to music, as a demonstration of concentration and cognitive ability?!

as such, she has scored her D, when I believe E is appropriate.

any advice on how to challenge this?




activity 7:

again, “restrictions are not consistent”, her restrictions being concentration and severe anxiety,
She states observations showed able to communicate (is one word answers classed as communication?) and declared she has no cognitive impairment? (She has BPD, struggles with concentration, cognition encompasses concentration)

she he has also not taken into account that she was prepared for this assessment, she knew what was coming, who was coming and what they were going to ask (roughly).

she would not reliably or repeatedly be able to do this.


she also says in the box under ‘‘mental state”

”difficulty coping at interview”
”appeared tense”
”poor rapport”
”poor eye contact”
”spoke very little”
”spoke slowly”
”spoke quietly”
”was withdrawn”
”did not require prompting” (had already been encouraged and explained to beforehand by myself)


Activity 9:

this is for me seems to be a straightforward wrong descriptor choice, what do you think? (Image attached)


sorry its its a bit disjointed, doing it on my phone.

robcarert

Any ideas?

Pippa_Alumni

Hi @robcarert, welcome to the community!

Thanks for sharing this with us. Glad to hear that on the whole you're feeling positive about the report and the outcome, although you're absolutely right to be questioning the inaccuracies, in case you need to take things further. 

Advice Now has a great tool to help word PIP Mandatory Reconsideration letters, so that's something you could be having a look at. Citizens Advice also have some in-depth guidance on the descriptors that it may be useful to refer back to. Hope this helps and best of luck- do keep us updated!

robcarert

Hi, thank you for your previous help, we have received her MR, and there is (surprise surprise) no change, they have basically ignored all other evidence than the assessment report, which whilst the text is quite accurate, the descriptor choice is inconsistent with the text, and other evidence is completely disregarded.

she only needs 1 point for enhanced DL, which I think is obtainable. 

I will be appealing on her behalf, she signed the form on the MR that asked for me to be her representative in this appeal, we then received a phone call to arrange an appointment to be assessed as her appointee!!! (Not asked for, nor is it legally required) there is no way she would be able to attend a tribunal, she’s not left the house since December, not even into the front or back garden!

do you have any ideas on how to argue:

that me filling in all the forms and emotionally and mentally preparing her for the assessment qualifies as social support.

and

that she is prone to impulse control difficulties, which makes it dangerous for her to cook/prepare food alone, has a history of overdoses, self harm (scratching, biting and pinching since i Won’t let her near knives now) and inability to concentrate on the multiple items required to cook/prepare food. (They’re relying on the fact that she concentrated for the whole assessment (which she was prepared for, by me) and has no active medical care plan(as we know, MH services don’t keep people on if they can’t do anything for them at the time))

i would be very grateful for any help help whilst preparing her appeal! Thanks!

Pippa_Alumni

So sorry to hear that you're having to go through the appeals process @robcarert, but glad to see that it sounds like you're preparing well.

Hopefully some of our community members will be able to share their tips and experiences with you, but in the meantime, I'd advise having a look at Scope's guidance on DWP appeals.

 https://youtu.be/67tDSlsityY