Feeling that my PIP decision was unfair. Am I over reacting or is my anger justified?

SachiRae1

I have hypermobile EDS (yet to go through genetic testing but have passed all the criteria), possibly POTS, depression and anxiety. I dislocate on the daily and suffer from chronic pain, passing out and just generally can’t do much. I went with all my supports on as I hadn’t taken any painkillers to show them what I’m like without them, and I had two crutches. She was so nice to me and when I said that I avoid doing things because I don’t want to dislocate it seemed like she completely understood. I explained my long history with depression and anxiety and that I had a bad panic attack before I went to the assessment. I was visibly shaking and had to put my wrist back in infront of her as I had lent on the chair and pushed it out. 
When I got my report I had absolutely 0 points and her entire write up was that I could do everything she asked me to do (I couldn’t and proved I couldn’t) and that I was visibly completely fine and not anxious at all. I then had a massive panic attack because I had been so excited to buy a hinged knee brace and a new walking stick and she had just ripped that from me and I was so afraid I would dislocate again. She also said that I can stop myself from dislocating by “holding the joints in” (which is a complete twist of words as I had told her that I avoid dislocations, as you do it’s painful to dislocate but apparently I need to be just doing bloody basketball and everything to make myself dislocate all the time).
Im so angry and confused as to why I got 0 points when I literally couldn’t do what she wanted me to and was covered in supports and had a dislocation infront of her.
Should I just suck it up or is my anger justified? I don’t know what I did wrong.

[Deleted User]

Hi @SachiRae1 welcome to the community! I'm terribly sorry to hear what has happened. Unfortunately, we read about this alot here on the community, you're definitely not alone in this!

Chloe_Scope

Hi @SachiRae1 and a very warm welcome to the community! I'm so sorry that the report is not an accurate representation and that this led you to scoring zero points.

Unfortunately this is not uncommon and you have every right to be angry right now!

The next stage would be to appeal the decision with a mandatory reconsideration. You have a month from receiving your letter to do this. This involves writing a letter and including 2-3 real life examples around how you meet the criteria.

More information about the mandatory reconsideration can be found here.

Many of our members have been through this, so please do feel to ask anything and I wish you the very best of luck!

SachiRae1

Hi @Chloe_Scope, thank you so much. I have actually sent them a letter that my friend helped me write with some insight about how she sees my experiences too but they haven’t replied for around a month. I’m going to call them and ask what the next step is today and if they’ve got my letter. I’ll resend it if I sent it to the wrong place. It’s such a horrible feeling to be so understood and given emotional support to your face then they pull this ****.

Chloe_Scope

Hi @SachiRae1, no problem at all. I would definitely ring up to see if they got your letter. Was the letter to request a mandatory reconsideration?

SachiRae1

Hi @Chloe_Scope, it was not. It was just a semi angry letter with everything they’ve let me down with (and tonnes of stories about my condition and experiences)

Chloe_Scope

Hi @SachiRae1, thank you for that. If that letter was over a month ago, does that mean you received the decision letter over a month ago?

poppy123456

Hi,

Even though you do have 1 month from the date of the decision to request the MR and a month from the date of that decision to request the Tribunal. However, with good reason you do actually have 13 months. If you're late requesting either of these then you'll need to give the reasons why you didn't request it within the first month.

SachiRae1

Hi @poppy123456,
Yeah I was late challenging it because my gran has dementia and got so much worse and we had to drop everything to sort her care out. I put it in the letter to let them know and I just called and they said they’re reviewing my letter now. They said they don’t usually text people when they receive their letters and then when I ended the call I got a text saying that in about 10 weeks from them receiving it I’ll have a reconsideration. I hope they just ask me back for another assessment with another person. Mum says she’s tempted to snot the other one though haha

poppy123456

It's very rare for them to ask you to attend another face to face assessment so don't expect that to happen, i'm afraid.

Most MR decisions remain the same, so you'll likely have to take it to Tribunal. If this does happen then i'd advise you to concentrate purely on where you think you should have scored those points and your reasons why. Adding a couple of real life examples of what happened the last time you attempted that activity for each descriptor that applies to you. HMCTS won't appreciate you mentioning any lies or contradictions in the report.

Any complaints about the assessment report should be sent to the health assessment providers. Details how to do this will be on their website. Good luck.