Evidence Letter from family for PIP tribunal

feir

Not sure if i saved draft accidently but i can't see my reply? Was just saying i thought it was strange what OP was asking. especially as some of my evidence was flat out dismissed because of who it was sent by and not what it said, but since seeing the form last night PIP just leaves me wondering. It's no surprise people fail on their first attempt and have to go to a tribunal to win either.
Told my ex to keep evidence basic and just say what's changed about my life with our kids and what he does for me.

feir

Username_removed said:

Yadnad said:

Username_removed said:

Anything you submit is evidence and you don’t need “proof” of anything. The burden of proof in social security cases is the “balance of probabilities” I.e. whether something is more likely than not. If something is said and it’s not inherently contradictory or inconsistent then it should be accepted as true. 52% of DLA and PIP claims succeed with no medical evidence at all.

Thanks Mike, if you don't need any proof of a difficulty you are then left with only a statement concerning the difficulty. I understand the basis of on which the DWP work as regards the balance of probabilities.
It is becoming more clear to me that the claim form itself seems to be the key to a successful PIP claim.
So providing that what you write on the form fits pretty accurately with a condition and that there is medical backup via a repeat prescription for the drugs taken to deal with that condition and maybe a copy of your medical history that is held by the GP, you should be home and dry?
To me that all means that you should have professional help when filling in the form and the same when you have put all of the 'evidence' together. 
Does that mean that those who manage to get that help would have a better chance of a good award over those that struggle without any assistance with the form leaving it to the last minute to return it as they just can't get their head round it?
It seems to me that for the past 5 years I have been looking at the PIP system all wrong and added to that I have never been able to obtain any face to face help along the way. 

I seem to remember that the government and the DWP both stated that there was no need to get any help or assistance as the system itself was simple enough for the average person to comprehend.

All of that doesn't bode well for many like me  - my IQ must have been overstated for the past 60 years  after I passed the 11+, obtained good O & A level results and managed a first in maths at uni.

@yadnad It’s a controversial view but I think significant numbers of people don’t need help with the form unless they have problems with concentration, grip or tiredness. There’s no magic form of words that an adviser brings to the table that should make the difference between qualifying and not qualifying. It really is just about the anecdotal examples and getting people to understand the difference between assertion and evidence. If I say I’m arthritic; my knees give way and I fall a lot that might all be consistent and logical but the bit about falling is assertion. If I can give two or three examples of falls - when, where, how, witnesses, what happened next etc. then I have evidenced the assertion and, in the absence of those examples being unlikely, absurd or contradictory my evidence should be accepted on the balance of probabilities in the absence of evidence to the contrary. A HCP report is often evidence to the contrary. Picking them apart is relatively easy but if your claim pack contains nothing but assertion or examples which lack detail then you’re a long way from home and dry.

A claim pack which says “I’m arthritic. I fall a lot and the last time I fell was last week in the garden” is a long way short of “I fall a lot. I fell last week in the garden. I was just walking on the concrete path to a flower bed when I think my left leg gave way. I don’t have support like crutches or a stick or cane. I fell into the soil to the left of the path but I cut my elbow on the concrete as I fell and I had nothing to suppprt me getting back up so I had to crawl on all fours about 20 feet to my back door step where there is a rail.”

@feir occasionally I get relatives who desperately want to fill in that bit of the form. I would never discourage it but generally such statements are easily disregarded as they lack focus on the points scoring activities. I’ve certainly never seen a tribunal tip because of such statements for example as the general attitude is that it’s hard to dustingush between what someone does because the person needs it and what they do because they care/love the person. 

initially when the OP asked this question i did think it was a bit weird that they would take relatives or friends as reliable sources of info (especially as they dismissed some of my NHS treatment because of who had given it to me rather than what it said) also because they can say anything.
I told my ex to leave it as basic as possible and to just mention what he does for me and how my life has changed in regards to the kids.