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How to proceed with PIP phone offer?

spitshaw

Hi all I had my PIP award removed upon renewal despite getting much worse. The MR repeated the original decision word for word despite the evidence I sent in to prove the mistakes they'd made. I then appealed and the DWP have called me today and offered me 10 points for Standard Daily Living and 12 points for Enhanced Mobility if I don't go to tribunal (funny how they managed to magic points out of thin air!). However they haven't given me points for reading/communicating or engaging with others, which my Dr, caseworker and I believe I should be getting. I told this to the DWP lady on the phone and she responded very rudely saying "Well you are communicating with me now perfectly so you clearly have no problems". I told her I will need a day or two to respond and will call her back and she just hung up on me without saying anything. So I'm wondering now what to do? The reasons she gave for denying me the points on them 3 things are that I was able to physically talk to the assessor, I was talking on the phone to her and that I managed read well enough to fill in my questionnaire. However for each one they aren't taking into account how long these things take, all of the times I'm unable to do them, the help I need to do them and the impact they have on my health afterwards. Should I just accept the offer and be done with it all or should I fight it?

Also - is it true that I can accept this offer and then appeal the extra points I feel like I should have been awarded? If I do that is it likely I could lose the points already awarded at Tribunal?
I really can't find much information online about how to deal with this situation so any advice would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks

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Comments

poppy123456

Hi,

It's impossible to answer your question on an internet forum because no one here knows exactly how your conditions affect you. We also don't know anything about your case.

Yes, you can accept the award then take it to Tribunal still but whether there's any risks to that award if you can on no one can tell you that either.

You'll need to get some face to face advice from an advice centre near you.

This link will help know what's near to you.

https://advicelocal.uk/

Good luck with what ever you decide.

Also, did you ask what length of the award offer it is? If not, then it will be worth asking this when you ring them back.

wilko

Hello and welcome, you have two options take their offer and be thankful you don’t have to take it to a tribunal for the little extra which could be hard to prove since you where ok on the phone, remember all calls to DWP are recorded and logged for future evidence if needed, required. Or fight for the extra and risk having your award down graded plus you have the long wait for the tribunal hearing. If the DWP are willing to put their offer in writing then I would accept it myself but this my own personal opinion, others may and will beg to differ.

CockneyRebel

Hi and welcome

Any appeal of a decision can see a reduction or removal of your award. However, if you decide to continue to tribunal the judge should make you aware if your current award is at risk, giving you the opportunity to withdraw. I would suggest if this happens that you heed the warning

Whether to go forward is your decision but consider how long your award is for and be brutally honest as to whether you will score the additional points needed.

Angiebabes2410

Good luck whatever you decide to do but I remember reading if the other side (DWP in this case) are willing to give something then they think they might lose at tribunal, ultimately only you can decide xx

Pippa_Alumni

Welcome to the community @spitshaw! Glad to see you've had some input from our community members, do let us know what you decide to do.

spitshaw

Hi all, just an update. I slept on it and decided to accept the award. I did some more googling and it seems that for the most part the DWP won't budge on telephone awards so the only option to get more points is to go to Tribunal. I remembered how difficult it was to get the Tribunal to award points for reading / communicating / engaging with others for people with ME/CFS.

I also really did not enjoy my tribunal experience last time and it took a whopping 16 months to get a tribunal date! So I didn't fancy having to go through all of that again, with no guarantee of an award and also disliked the idea of having no PIP and SDP income for the foreseeable future. Also did not want to risk losing the points I already had on the telephone offer, as my experience last time was that the Tribunal awarded all the points from scratch again.

I went from 0 points and no award to 22 points and standard DL and enhanced M before going to Tribunal so that's something at least. I'm just glad the ordeal is over - it's been horrendous!

Thanks for all the advice

Yadnad

Why do claimants give the DWP their telephone numbers?

If the DWP want to make this 'offer' they should do so in writing.

wilko

Yadnad, claimants give their telephone, contact details on the first application for benefits and once on the system you are asked which is the best number to contact you on when you have future contact. Remember all call are logged and recorded as I have found out after requesting all the information that DWP had about me reference ESA, a bundle over 1.5 inches thick thin paper bigger than A4 size printed mostly both sides delivered by courier.

Yadnad

wilko said:

Yadnad, claimants give their telephone, contact details on the first application for benefits and once on the system you are asked which is the best number to contact you on when you have future contact. Remember all call are logged and recorded as I have found out after requesting all the information that DWP had about me reference ESA, a bundle over 1.5 inches thick thin paper bigger than A4 size printed mostly both sides delivered by courier.

I agree with you but you are not obliged to provide that extra level of information such as telephone numbers email address etc.

If it was carried out by way of a letter they would have no reason to not make it a formal new decision instead of the implied blackmail of accept our offer and not to continue with the appeal saga. Fail to accept the offer it goes off to the Tribunal but the DWP will fail to inform the panel that such an offer had already been made.
You can't beat a bit of paper with an official letterhead!

Yadnad

Username_removed said:

Sorry, should have added that most tribunals are more than happy to leave examination of an existing component well alone when they know an offers been made on the other.

Which begs the question would the DWP tell the Tribunal that an offer had been made but that the claimant had refused it preferring to go to a hearing instead?