PIP bullying me into accepting offer before tribunal. — Scope | Disability forum
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PIP bullying me into accepting offer before tribunal.

mothbee
mothbee Community member Posts: 2 Listener
Hi all,

So for context, I'm 18, autistic, I have anxiety and depression and back in January I moved out of my birth family due to them being abusive and forcing me to hide my problems and autistic traits. This has further led to my college giving me no support (no support from school either as I was 'home taught'), my autism diagnosis letter to say I'm semi-social due to my birth mother attending the assessment and for me to commonly have meltdowns/shutdowns.

I applied for PIP back in January, got my assessment in June (didn't receive any points) and I've only just begun the appeal process.
I was away from holiday with my legal guardians when I got a text saying call me by 4pm today regarding your PIP, I saw this at 3:51pm so I panicked and called up.
Apparently, it was my case manager, and she said that 'looking over my case again, she feels that I can be awarded the standard rate of daily living.' when I did the online test, and I've repeatedly gone back and added up the points, I should be eligible for the enhanced daily living and standard mobility rate.

I told this to her and she began getting very shirty with me, although I kept trying to explain my situation and the fact that I'm in the process of gathering better proof for the tribunal, she kept shutting me down, saying things like 'your childhood shouldn't affect you or your autism' and that I was 'fine talking to her on the phone' when I had no other choice but to.
At this point, I began crying because I was so overwhelmed and distressed and then she changed her tune saying that I shouldn't be getting upset (hard when she's invalidating my struggles) I can just accept her offer because if I decide to go through with the tribunal they can throw my whole case out and I'd get nothing.

I felt incredibly overwhelmed and tired so I accepted the offer because I wanted her to stop pushing me. However, since then, my legal guardians have informed me that she took advantage of my anxiety/autism and bullied me into accepting the offer and that she shouldn't be calling me in the first place as I recently had my appointee changed from my birth mum to my legal guardian / unofficial foster mum.
She's going to ring them first thing on Monday to get it sorted and continue with the appeal but I just wanted to know

Is it very likely I'll get the whole case thrown out at the tribunal? As I'm going to have my partner there to back me up as he's basically had to take care of me for the whole month due to me barely even having the energy to shower and I'm trying to get an updated better support plan off the college, hopefully a prescription of from my GP and a written statement from my legal guardians.
Also, is there anything else I can do? My mental health has suffered tremendously, I've emailed my MP so many times for PIP to reply to her with 'I'm sorry to hear that but he can just appeal' and I'm tired of people invalidating my struggles as if anything, I'm having more problems now that I'm dealing with the aftermath of what my parents did to me.

Many thanks, everyone.

Comments

  • poppy123456
    poppy123456 Community member Posts: 53,345 Disability Gamechanger
    HI,

    The DWP can't bully you into accepting anything you don't want to. It's your decision whether or not to accept their offer or continue with the Tribunal, only you can decide what you want to do.

    No one can tell you if you'll successfully be awarded at Tribunal but appearing in person will give you the best chance of a decision in your favour. 74% of those that appear are successfully awarded.

    Do be aware though that the Tribunal will only take into consideration what your condition was like at the time the decision was made. Any worsening of condition will not be taken into consideration.
    I would appreciate it if members wouldn't tag me please. I have all notifcations turned off and wouldn't want a member thinking i'm being rude by not replying.
    If i see a question that i know the answer to i will try my best to help.
  • mothbee
    mothbee Community member Posts: 2 Listener
    HI,

    The DWP can't bully you into accepting anything you don't want to. It's your decision whether or not to accept their offer or continue with the Tribunal, only you can decide what you want to do.

    No one can tell you if you'll successfully be awarded at Tribunal but appearing in person will give you the best chance of a decision in your favour. 74% of those that appear are successfully awarded.

    Do be aware though that the Tribunal will only take into consideration what your condition was like at the time the decision was made. Any worsening of condition will not be taken into consideration.
    Thanks for the info!

    I guess she wasn't bullying me per se but I was very visibly upset and hysterical and my case manager was pushing and pushing for me to say yes. My legal guardians are furious because she should've rung my appointee rather than me and nearly pushed me to a meltdown.

    So would my updated support plan/prescriptions and such be null due to them being recent or will they still be considered valid evidence?

Brightness

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