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cristobal said: @opus - what help is it you need?Personally, and I'm fairly certain others will disagree, I think it's best to fill the form in yourself. There's no-one knows your condition better than you and if you have a face to face assessment you'll be completely familiar with your application - rather than answering questions on what someone else has written...There's no 'magic' way to do it, or standard phrases... just look at the descriptors (available on-line) and give examples of the difficulties you have with carrying out daily tasks...Good luck...
poppy123456 said: It's far from easy, if it was then everyone would be filling out their forms their self. I do agree with @cristobal though because only you know how your conditions affect you, not anyone else. There's no specific wording to use or a specific way to fill out the forms. Just put as much information as possible. Before starting if you don't understand the descriptors then this link is a good place to start. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/personal-independence-payment-assessment-guide-for-assessment-providers/pip-assessment-guide-part-2-the-assessment-criteria#daily-living-activities Having some understanding really does help. Once you've read it, then start the form. I've had help myself many times with filling out forms because i was never confident enough to fill them out myself and didn't know where to start. The information that's been written in the forms has always been limited because they don't have time to sit down and listen to you tell them how your conditions affect you. My daughters PIP review forms in October last year was the first attempt for me. I just did one question at a time, used extra A4 paper and added a couple of real life examples, where she was, who was with her and what happened. Once that question was answered i'd leave it until the next day, then carry on where i left off.and did the same thing for each question. If you don't have enough time then ring DWP and they will give you an extra 14 days. Once the form was filled in i gathered all her evidence and a highlighter pen. Went through everything and highlighted all the areas that proved beyond doubt that the descriptors applied to her. I highlighted it because i didn't want to risk them not reading it, highlighted means it stood out more and it couldn't be missed. Remember though, less is more. Sending in 100's of pages of evidence won't help because they won't sit there reading through that mountain. Some evidence may even contradict another and this is something you need to be careful of. She was lucky this time because she had a paper based assessment. Also by filling out your forms, when you attend the face to face assessment you'll know exactly what you wrote because you did it yourself. During the assessment you'll need to confirm what you wrote in the form because you'll be asked questions related to that.Good luck.
ilovecats said: cristobal said: @opus - what help is it you need?Personally, and I'm fairly certain others will disagree, I think it's best to fill the form in yourself. There's no-one knows your condition better than you and if you have a face to face assessment you'll be completely familiar with your application - rather than answering questions on what someone else has written...There's no 'magic' way to do it, or standard phrases... just look at the descriptors (available on-line) and give examples of the difficulties you have with carrying out daily tasks...Good luck... This is very good advise. Just write it in your own way with your own explanation. Only you know how your restrictions affect you.
cristobal said: Opus said:You make it seem all so simple!The only reason I post on here is that I believe that there are quite a few genuine claimants who should get PIP and fail because they aren't good at filling out forms. To me that's a disgrace, and even worse when you consider that some people suffer from mental health issues which makes motivating yourself, concentrating and accurately completing an application very difficult. It's the perfect 'Catch 22'...Sadly, one of the things I'm quite good at is form filling. I learnt a lot from my boss whose mantra was "Keep it to the point and always make it easy for the person reading it." So here's what he would advise!Read the descriptors so you know what is required (like in an exam - you don't score if you don't answer the question)Then go through them one by one on a separate sheet for each.'Preparing food' is good example - tell them how you can/can't chop vegetables, use the hob or microwave, whether you need aids - like a stool to sit on or special utensils, or whether, if you have a more hidden condition, you need someone to motivate you to do it when you're down, or not able to concentrate or fatigued.DO NOT tell them that you can't get food out of the oven, and you struggle to take the the food to the dining room, because these are NOT considered. (Neither are going upstairs to the loo, nor shaving nor drying yourself after a bath...)When you've done - and it might take you several days - read through what you've written. Ask yourself whether it's all relevant. If it's not then cut it out.My personal opinion - and is just that - is that you only need two, or maximum three, examples for each descriptor. If you have more make sure that they ADD something. For example, you might say that you cannot chop veg because an arthritic hand means that you can't grip and also you can't lift a saucepan but then use something different such as having to sit because of xx, or you can't cook because you don't get out of bed for days on end because you're depressed...I don't believe that there's a need to add masses of medical notes unless they specifically support what you can/can't do. I have a diagnosed neurological condition which was covered in one page,and is not disputable.The advantage to being concise and accurate is that the assessor who picks up your file will smile, have a cup of coffee and read your well constructed application that isn't padded out with fifty pages of waffle. You've made it easy for them to give you what you want. The rest is up to them but if it doesn't work you haven't lost anything...It doesn't have to be complicated but it can take a bit of time and effort...
cristobal said: @opus - I posted at the same time as you did and i'm not sure that I really answered your question...When you take of ' the 'way PIP words things' you are right. I don't think it's necessarily complicated but it goes back to my exam scenario - read the question carefully and understand what it's about..The advantage of PIP over an exam is that you have as long as you like and you can change it as many times as you like...
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