If this is your first visit, check out the community guide. You will have to Join us or Sign in before you can post.
Receiving too many notifications? Adjust your notification settings.
pip refusal for a second time

hi I've just joined this site to see if anyone else has been in the same situation, in aug 2016 I applied for pip due to my osteoarthritis getting worse along with other conditions. at the time of filling in the how your disability affects you form and at the assessment interview I was totally inexperienced in how I answered the question on paper and acted in front of the atos health professional and was refused pip and at first thought perhaps I really didn't qualify and was not entitled to pip but weeks later the Macmillan welfare nurse who was dealing with my wife questioned me about my mobility as she noticed me struggling to move and carry out tasks around my house and was concerned about how I was managing with my wife who had just returned home from 3 months in hospital including 32 days in intensive care after her bowel cancer surgery developed serious complications (sorry to go on about it) she advised me to contact a welfare support charity who helped me but after being refused again at the reconsideration stage even with more medical evidence supplied my case ended up at a tribunal where it was noted the health professionals musculoskeletal examination report of aug 2016 about me and also my ability to carry out tasks differed greatly from my gp surgery records about my long term conditions and a letter from the hospital senior consultant stating my condition was severe advising me to take more pain relief dated some 6 months earlier in march 2016 ,anyway at the tribunal held in aug 2017 I was awarded 10 points for carrying out daily tasks and 10 points for mobility a big difference from the 2 points I was awarded from the DWP and pip for my hearing loss but I do believe if I was not wearing my hearing aids I would not of got those 2 points when the tribunal panel handed the award letter to me there was an added comment on the back of it and signed by the judge it read ...by reason of his medical conditions mr x is significantly limited in particular in his mobility and as a result he qualifies for the award . in reaching its decision the tribunal placed particular reliance upon the medical evidence and his oral answers. so why was my medical evidence and oral answers not good enough for the atos so called health professional or the DWP
so the award was backdated to aug 2016 to run until aug 2019 fair enough, so back in april 2019 I thought about getting everything prepared for when the DWP and pip contact me again and requested my up to date medical records from my GP surgery to have ready to post along with the new how your disability affects you forms , at this point I will mention since 2016 my osteoarthritis and mobility has become worse I have venous insufficiency in my legs I developed deep venous ulcers on the back of my left leg from jan 2018 to nov 2018 spending over 40 weeks in compression wrapped bandages I have long term chronic oedema, long term chronic lymphedema and in the past I've been hospitalised 4 times with cellulitis and still get attacks of cellulitis , I suffer from gout, I have ankle flare causing reduced movement and non diabetic hyperglycaemia plus there's various skin conditions on my legs as well,
so I fill the forms in post them off with a bundle of medical details old and new and very quickly within a couple of weeks on Wednesday 3rd July I got a phone call from the independent assessment service (really its still the atos people) saying attend a pip interview on Saturday 6th of July at 08.30 bit of a rush to prepare but I said yes I will attend and did accompanied by my son, the HP was a physiotherapist and at the start I enquired do you have my previous details about my current pip situation or is this start from scratch again he said its treated as a new claim he then read all his questions from a screen and would only accept a yes or no answers moved quickly onto the next questions without engaging with me and told me several times he can only ask me questions that are written on his laptop screen and if I don't answer I will have to apply for pip again then at the end of the interview I made the point of telling him the structure and way he conducted the assessment was so one sided and not once was I able discuss or point out problems I encounter but said good bye after he said the dwp will contact you in 4 to 6 weeks
so Saturday the 10th of aug not one but two brown envelopes are posted through the letter box and not feeling to confident I read the first one that reminded me so much of the letter I received after my first assessment in 2016 , we have looked at your claim and can only award you 2 points for your hearing as you wear aids and absolutely nothing for mobility, now I'm thinking what about the part in that tribunal award letter that reads ….by reason of his medical conditions mr x is significantly limited in particular in his mobility and as a result he qualifies for the award . in reaching its decision the tribunal placed particular reliance upon the medical evidence and his oral answers. I understand conditions change but my conditions are degenerative they don't get better in the past 3 years they have become much worse
so why was my medical evidence and oral answers not good enough for the so called health professional or the DWP this time I accept having to be assessed but I want to be judged fairly I was gutted but then I open the second brown envelope and it reads having looked at the change in your medical conditions we will cancel your pip payments immediately and let you know you may have to pay us back money
I am now so disgusted with the system you may remember earlier I mentioned in 2016 my wife had bowel cancer and complications afterwards that became life threatening due to sepsis and she was to weak to receive chemo but since then the cancer came back again in 2017 and she needed two operations to remove tumours from her bladder and small bowel involving partial removal of various other bits internally she underwent chemo treatment that finished in feb 2018 but the DWP wasted no time in calling her in earlier this year to assess her and decided to take away her mobility allowance and reduce her daily living payments as well , please believe me when I say I'm not making this up before my wife's cancer our daughter developed breast cancer and whilst my wife was in intensive care in one hospital my daughter was having breast reconstruction in another hospital not to far away then a few months later her cancer returned in her spine and hips which needed replacing and has spread to her rib cage and skull so mostly in her bones she is monitored on a regular basis but has needed blood transfusions a number of times she will always have cancer, I'm really sorry to drag this story on but I've never posted or written anything about it before but were getting to a close soon three weeks ago my wife had another surgery for a stoma reversal but in the weeks leading up to her appointment she developed a lot of large bruising on her thighs and large amounts of clear mucus fluid coming out of her stoma so during her stoma reversal operation the consultant found and removed small tumour deposits in the small bowel area and a larger tumour from the peritoneum we have a meeting thurs 15th aug at 5 pm with the consultant we know there was an mdt meeting but we are dreading what we might be told I know the pip should be about my abilities but given what I'm telling I feel like cracking under the stress of challenging the DWP decision
so I am not classed as having a disability according to the assessment HP and DWP even though I cant walk for more than 2 mins without taking a rest on my crutches my venous circulation problems don't count my x-ray of 2015 shows complete loss of joint space on my hips and its now 2019 still bone rubbing bone a tribunal made a statement about my evidence but the system said no to me again at a time when I need things like a blue badge for myself plus my wife and daughter especially for hospitals why do I have to go back to a welfare charity for help again I bet you I will get refused again at the reconsideration stage and have to wait another year for a tribunal
when are these health professional going to be made accountable for their misleading reports that affect peoples lives
sorry it was a long read
so the award was backdated to aug 2016 to run until aug 2019 fair enough, so back in april 2019 I thought about getting everything prepared for when the DWP and pip contact me again and requested my up to date medical records from my GP surgery to have ready to post along with the new how your disability affects you forms , at this point I will mention since 2016 my osteoarthritis and mobility has become worse I have venous insufficiency in my legs I developed deep venous ulcers on the back of my left leg from jan 2018 to nov 2018 spending over 40 weeks in compression wrapped bandages I have long term chronic oedema, long term chronic lymphedema and in the past I've been hospitalised 4 times with cellulitis and still get attacks of cellulitis , I suffer from gout, I have ankle flare causing reduced movement and non diabetic hyperglycaemia plus there's various skin conditions on my legs as well,
so I fill the forms in post them off with a bundle of medical details old and new and very quickly within a couple of weeks on Wednesday 3rd July I got a phone call from the independent assessment service (really its still the atos people) saying attend a pip interview on Saturday 6th of July at 08.30 bit of a rush to prepare but I said yes I will attend and did accompanied by my son, the HP was a physiotherapist and at the start I enquired do you have my previous details about my current pip situation or is this start from scratch again he said its treated as a new claim he then read all his questions from a screen and would only accept a yes or no answers moved quickly onto the next questions without engaging with me and told me several times he can only ask me questions that are written on his laptop screen and if I don't answer I will have to apply for pip again then at the end of the interview I made the point of telling him the structure and way he conducted the assessment was so one sided and not once was I able discuss or point out problems I encounter but said good bye after he said the dwp will contact you in 4 to 6 weeks
so Saturday the 10th of aug not one but two brown envelopes are posted through the letter box and not feeling to confident I read the first one that reminded me so much of the letter I received after my first assessment in 2016 , we have looked at your claim and can only award you 2 points for your hearing as you wear aids and absolutely nothing for mobility, now I'm thinking what about the part in that tribunal award letter that reads ….by reason of his medical conditions mr x is significantly limited in particular in his mobility and as a result he qualifies for the award . in reaching its decision the tribunal placed particular reliance upon the medical evidence and his oral answers. I understand conditions change but my conditions are degenerative they don't get better in the past 3 years they have become much worse
so why was my medical evidence and oral answers not good enough for the so called health professional or the DWP this time I accept having to be assessed but I want to be judged fairly I was gutted but then I open the second brown envelope and it reads having looked at the change in your medical conditions we will cancel your pip payments immediately and let you know you may have to pay us back money
I am now so disgusted with the system you may remember earlier I mentioned in 2016 my wife had bowel cancer and complications afterwards that became life threatening due to sepsis and she was to weak to receive chemo but since then the cancer came back again in 2017 and she needed two operations to remove tumours from her bladder and small bowel involving partial removal of various other bits internally she underwent chemo treatment that finished in feb 2018 but the DWP wasted no time in calling her in earlier this year to assess her and decided to take away her mobility allowance and reduce her daily living payments as well , please believe me when I say I'm not making this up before my wife's cancer our daughter developed breast cancer and whilst my wife was in intensive care in one hospital my daughter was having breast reconstruction in another hospital not to far away then a few months later her cancer returned in her spine and hips which needed replacing and has spread to her rib cage and skull so mostly in her bones she is monitored on a regular basis but has needed blood transfusions a number of times she will always have cancer, I'm really sorry to drag this story on but I've never posted or written anything about it before but were getting to a close soon three weeks ago my wife had another surgery for a stoma reversal but in the weeks leading up to her appointment she developed a lot of large bruising on her thighs and large amounts of clear mucus fluid coming out of her stoma so during her stoma reversal operation the consultant found and removed small tumour deposits in the small bowel area and a larger tumour from the peritoneum we have a meeting thurs 15th aug at 5 pm with the consultant we know there was an mdt meeting but we are dreading what we might be told I know the pip should be about my abilities but given what I'm telling I feel like cracking under the stress of challenging the DWP decision
so I am not classed as having a disability according to the assessment HP and DWP even though I cant walk for more than 2 mins without taking a rest on my crutches my venous circulation problems don't count my x-ray of 2015 shows complete loss of joint space on my hips and its now 2019 still bone rubbing bone a tribunal made a statement about my evidence but the system said no to me again at a time when I need things like a blue badge for myself plus my wife and daughter especially for hospitals why do I have to go back to a welfare charity for help again I bet you I will get refused again at the reconsideration stage and have to wait another year for a tribunal
when are these health professional going to be made accountable for their misleading reports that affect peoples lives
sorry it was a long read
Replies
Sorry to hear what you are going through regarding family and DWP, its obvious that your health has deteriated, (if you have had issues over 3 months) gather Consulation paperwork, GP letter etc submit them with Mandatory Reconsideration, explaining reasons why you feel ie mobility has got worse due to odema of the feet and other issues(swollen feet) your not able to walk a few steps with stopping due to pain in your hips etc, you have a month from when they (P.I.P) made their decision (check the date decision was made) i wish you the best of luck jimbo57.
Please do seek face to face advice from Citizen's Advice or AdviceLocal. They will be able to give you accurate advice which is suitable to your situation and will tell you the best way to move forward. Please do bare in mind that most appeals have to go to tribunal unfortunately.
I wish you the very best of luck, and please do let us know if there is anything else we can do to help.
Scope
Tell us what you think?
Complete our feedback form to help us to improve your community.
Scope
Tell us what you think?
Complete our feedback form to help us to improve your community.
Can I make a couple of suggestions?
You've made two quite lengthy posts but they both concentrate exclusively on your illnesses, and diagnoses. There doesn't seem to be anything about why you believe you should get PIP and which daily tasks (Descriptors) you have difficulty with. This is what PIP is about - functional ability, not diagnosis.
If you ask for a Mandatory Reconsideration I personally would concentrate on how you meet these descriptors, and not worry about what the assessor said (some of it doesn't seem to be relevant anyway such as whether or not you wear glasses?)
If you have a look through the posts on this forum you'll find plenty of help on this...
I hope everything turns out well; come back here if you need more advice...
I was angry and annoyed when my assessment was done poorly.
Fortunately I realised that anger does no-one any good - and I managed to channel my energy into doing something positive.
Try to switch off for a bit - then make a start with the next stage.
There's plenty of help on here if you need it...
Good luck