Evidence for PIP

[Deleted User]

Hi all, I need some advice, I recently had an assessment from children’s services to see if I’d be a suitable to care for a family members child as they can’t, I gave them a true and honest account of all my illnesses and that of my sons learning disabilities too, as these impact my life daily and I’d have to facilitate contact visits between the mother and child which would be hard as my condition fluctuates and my son as numerous appointments. Whilst they agreed that I could provide a warm and nurturing environment for the child it wouldn’t be in their best interests as I have many health issues. The report goes into detail about my conditions and that I’ve had help from OT with adaptions in my bathroom and details on numerous times the help I get from family members as in they take me shopping, take me appointments etc and I rely on the heavily for help etc .... but it also contains a lot of sensitive personal information so I was wondering shall I include this with my PIP application and just black out the parts not relevant and private to me?  Anyway sorry for rambling, just unsure whether it would help? 

poppy123456

Hi,

There's no harm in sending that as evidence but i wouldn't advise you to black out parts of it. Either send all of it, or none at all is my advice.

[Deleted User]

Just send everything you have.

Yadnad

If it's information about a third party then the Tribunal should not be party to that information.

littleruthie123

If there's nothing you wouldent want them too see .I would definitely send it. Good luck 

[Deleted User]

@Yadnad why is that? x

Yadnad

You cannot pass on information that relates to a third party without that 3rd party's permission.

Waylay

Don't send everything you have! They don't get s huge amount of time to read everything, so sending a few great pieces of evidence is better than sending 40 crappy pieces of evidence. 

They need to know: what your diagnoses are, meds you're on, prognoses, aids (perching chair, ling-handled sponge, etc.)...

HOWEVER, the most important information they need is how your disabilities affect your functioning in day-to-day life. Your diagnoses don't get you points. The way your conditions affect you is the important thing. So, an Occupational Therapy report on you which states that your Parkinson's makes your hands/arms/legs shake so much that on 80% of days you can't cook a simple meal because you can't stand without a severe risk of falling, you can't hold a knife well enough to safely cut up veggies or to stir a pot. You do have a perching stool, special knives, etc., but you still need help/supervision/whatever to cook a meal. Make sense? Of course, many of your medical people won't know how you are in the kitchen, because they only see you in their office, so keep that in mind. If you have something like Parkinson's or Motor Neurone, and your condition doesn't fluctuate much, then they can probably say things like, "From what I've observed of his condition, and knowing that it doesn't fluctuate much, he would not be able to hold a knife, etc.

Remember that friends/partners/housemates/family/carers can also write letters for you, although they're usually given less weight. 

littleruthie123

I've just recieved my care plan report.do you guys think it's better too send it in now .or wait if I need it for more evidence?thanks 

poppy123456

If you've already send the form then sending the extra evidence now means the assessment providers may not get it. If you haven't had your assessment yet then you can try taking it with you to this and see if they'll accept it from you. Sometimes they refuse, so expect that to happen. Just don't black anything out in the report because it won't look good if you do.

susan48

I had a psychologist report but there was 3td party information on it. My gp blacked out this information, data protection, and I sent this to the Appeal. 
You cant send information with 3rd party sensitive material in anything 

[Deleted User]

I thought as much. Thank you. Xx

Yadnad

susan48 said:

I had a psychologist report but there was 3td party information on it. My gp blacked out this information, data protection, and I sent this to the Appeal. 
You cant send information with 3rd party sensitive material in anything 

Pleased to hear that especially since the new data regulations came into force a couple of weeks ago. You do have to be very careful with data now - you cannot just go round sending information out if some of it refers to a third party.

littleruthie123

Even more confused now .my care plan does say alot of what I've said myself .it lists my separate problems quite well .it's written in an odd way though .think I will keep hold of it for now then thanks .

Yadnad

littleruthie123 said:

Even more confused now .my care plan does say alot of what I've said myself .it lists my separate problems quite well .it's written in an odd way though .think I will keep hold of it for now then thanks .

This is were it is vital in my opinion to get professional help with all aspects of PIP. What may seem appropriate to send to the DWP may well be the worst thing that you can do. I honestly thought that a care plan was important to a claim, yet Mike makes absolute sense in that it could be the undoing of it.

Unfortunately getting that help is nigh on impossible in most areas in the UK.