Has my PIP advisor messed up my claim?

Saffy

I'm moving from DLA to PIP. I contacted a Disability Support Centre for help with form filling. He didn't ask about how my fibromyalgia affected me, in fact he didn't seem to ask much generally.
When I commented on it he said he filled in loads of these forms every day and he was just giving them the necessary as they never read them anyway. He posted the form for me and gave me a copy and said I'd probably go for a face to face assessment.
Now I have looked at the copy and am scared he may have messed it up for me as the info he has written is very brief and in no way gives the amount of detail requested.
Do you think I need to worry? The help centre was recommended to me by a friend so I had no reason not to trust him.

Davegreaser70

Hi. I had a P.I.P assessment in Nov last year. It was a face to face, as I had refused to go on P.I.P for years. The staff are friendly, they will ask about what you CAN do, not what you CAN'T do. The assessor will have your medical details, but being brief on the form is unusual. They DO read the forms, and when you go, they will ask questions like can you prepare a simple meal? If you cannot do that, SAY SO! If you eat microwave meals SAY SO! It takes about 6 weeks to get a result, but if you are turned down, appeal, but put down as MUCH as possible on the form. Remember YOU know how you cope. THEY DO NOT! Hope this helps. You will be fine! 

Chloe_Alumni

Hi @saffy and a very warm welcome to the community! Have you sent the form off yet? It may be worth adding more information if you believe this is lacking. I will move your post to the PIP board and see what suggestions other members have

If you need anything else at all then please do be in touch!

cristobal

@saffy - I think I'd be worried if I'd asked for advice, and the form was completed on the basis of "no-one ever reads it!"

Was there a reason why you didn't fill the form in yourself? I think the best person to say how your condition affects you is you, but that's just my opinion - I know there are others on here who disagree...

Let us know what happens...

[Deleted User]

Omg, sounds like what happened to me! I asked Welfare Rights, he didn't ask me for 2 - 3 examples of anything and the attitude was it's a review.. but I've read you put 2 - 3 examples regards of it being a review or not. So when I got my report back one of the things the assessor used as an excuse was my form which he knew I didn't fill in, I then asked Welfare Rights for a copy and was a little bit annoyed, I emailed them about it and explained what info I'd found on the net etc. and he still wouldn't listen. I understand they have a lot of people to help but not filling the form in properly and thinking the assessor "will ask the right questions" is a tad mind boggling, same as the evidence, they said "It's only really needed for an MR or tribunal"... *sigh*. I gave what evidence I had anyway.

Saffy

Chloe_Scope said:

Hi @saffy and a very warm welcome to the community! Have you sent the form off yet? It may be worth adding more information if you believe this is lacking. I will move your post to the PIP board and see what suggestions other members have

If you need anything else at all then please do be in touch!

Yes the Disability advisor sent it off for me. I've had a text to say they received it. So I can't add anything to it now. 

Saffy

cristobal said:

@saffy - I think I'd be worried if I'd asked for advice, and the form was completed on the basis of "no-one ever reads it!"

Was there a reason why you didn't fill the form in yourself? I think the best person to say how your condition affects you is you, but that's just my opinion - I know there are others on here who disagree...

Let us know what happens...

I've been on DLA for years and had the highest rates for both care and mobility.
I got knocked off my scooter a few weeks ago and have been in a lot of pain since with head and neck pain.
I also recently had a cataract operation and my vision hasn't been very good since so I needed help with the form filling, especially as I didn't really understand what was wanted from me the way some questions were phrased. My fibromyalgia makes me woolly headed and I can't speak clearly sometimes. I was given the advice centre details by a friend who used them previously and said how good they were.
I'm really worried that I've lost my chance to put my case forward properly, and going by what I've heard, the assessors are not really interested in doing their best for you.
I'm stressed out normally so you can imagine what this is doing to me 

Saffy

Thanks for all the replies. I'm not sure if I'm posting replies properly as I can't seem to find 'reply' and am just using 'quote'. 
Can someone tell me how to post replies properly please?

poppy123456

Saffy said:

Thanks for all the replies. I'm not sure if I'm posting replies properly as I can't seem to find 'reply' and am just using 'quote'. 
Can someone tell me how to post replies properly please?

Hi,

You're posting fine. You can quote someone's comment if you want to but you don't have to.

Saffy

poppy123456 said:

Saffy said:

Thanks for all the replies. I'm not sure if I'm posting replies properly as I can't seem to find 'reply' and am just using 'quote'. 
Can someone tell me how to post replies properly please?

Hi,

You're posting fine. You can quote someone's comment if you want to but you don't have to.

Thanks. Can you explain the flag icon please?

poppy123456

The flag is for reporting a comment if you see something you don't like.

Saffy

And the little gold star top right?

[Deleted User]

The gold star is so you can bookmark a thread so you can find it again

Saffy

I seem to spend every waking moment worrying about whether my pip advisor has caused massive problems for me.
The form was very poorly filled in by him and I don't know what to do. Could he, as a professional, have made things worse for me, or am I worrying unnecessarily?
Will I just have to wait now until I get called for a face to face?

KG100

You can always explain what happened when you have the assessment interview.
I had mine this week and had to tell them about having to add anaemia to my medical condition list.
I was only told I had that last week.
She was quite happy about adding it to my other problems.

[Deleted User]

Yeah, hopefully your assessor will be do their job properly like the first one I had did.

cristobal

@safyy - try not to worry - you can't change anything now.

If you have to go for a F2F then prepare to give some examples of how your condition affects you.

poppy123456

When i first claimed PIP for my daughter i had help filling out the forms and like yours hers was filled out so badly. Hardly any information was put down and i didn't even get to have a copy of the form before they left my house. I was also told that they would post them for me. Yes, i was very worried but there was nothing i could do about it at that point.

I gave the adviser all the evidence i had, which was quite a lot from the community learning disability team and a few other consultants.  All i could do was wait and hope. I did ask for a home assessment which was added to the form. Spent weeks worrying because of it. less than 2 weeks after returning the forms i was sent an appointment for a home assessment. That took place and because i'm her appointee i answered all the questions on her behalf.

The decision took just over 6 weeks because the report was sent to audit but she was awarded Enhanced for both.

Fast forward a year to her review and this time i wasn't taken any chances so decided to fill out the forms myself. I added 2 real life examples for each descriptor that applied to her. Sent a small amount of extra evidence  which proved exactly how her conditions affect her.

I did wait a long time for a decision but thanks to my form filling she had a paper based assessment and the decision remained the same. So, yes putting as much information as possible definitely helped but luckily for her the first time because of the evidence i sent it didn't matter.

I've learnt my lesson now and will never ask anyone for help filling out any form because we are the only people that know how our conditions affect us, no one else. She's my daughter so i know exactly how she's affected.

Hopefully the lack of information on the form won't make any difference to you. Good luck.

cristobal

poppy123456 said:

"I've learnt my lesson now and will never ask anyone for help filling out any form because we are the only people that know how our conditions affect us, no one else" 

I agree ....also one of the reasons why people sometimes get help filling a form in seems to be that an adviser 'knows what to write'.

This may, or may not be the case, but the problem is that when you have a F2F interview they'll be asking about what is effectively someone else's application!!

poppy123456

Very often i hear people say "i don't know the exact wording to use" there's no exact wording, just write it how it is.

Saffy

poppy123456 said:

Very often i hear people say "i don't know the exact wording to use" there's no exact wording, just write it how it is.

That was one of the reasons I wanted help, because I get so jumbled in my head I can't think straight. And trying to explain how I feel is so difficult. I can actually hear myself not making sense and that make it worse. I've even been accused of being drunk!!