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PIP f2f for adult with learning disabilities

Tony246

hello all

brief intro, been learning from this site and I'm impressed with the knowledge and advice given. I'm dad to my daughter who has genetic disorders than mean she hasnt matured mentally. She has a PIP f2f coming up soon although the appointment date hasnt been received yet. She currently gets DLA high rates for both. She got LCWRA on paper based assessment.

So recently I read that an appointee can speak on her behalf at the f2f and the official one is my wife but she doesnt want to do it. The plan was that I would attend with her. I wrote her PIP assessment form and just put that she would attend with a family friend, not appointee. I need clarity on what I can do.

Q1. Will I be able to speak on her behalf at the assessment?
Q2 Would it be better to just let her answer herself even if she wouldnt understand a lot of it?

Tony

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Comments

wilko

@Tony246, Hello and welcome, as you know DLA and PIP are two different benefits and are accessed using a different criteria for each benefit. At your daughters assessment I would , just my opinion do a bit of both the the assessor will be able to get a better idea of your daughters abilities. Remember PIP is about your daughters abilities in preforming the descriptors in a safe, repeatable and timely manner for most of her days. The more that can be proved or demonstrated that your daughter is unable to do the descriptors then a better outcome .

poppy123456

Hi,

Usually unless you're the appointee then you won't be able to speak on her behalf but this does depend on the HCP on the day. Some wil allow, some won't. As your wife is the appointee then she will need to attend the assessment too so she will be able to ask the HCP at the start of the assessment. It may have been better if you had been her appointee instead of your wife.

As your daughter has a learning disability then i wouldn't advise her to speak for herself because she may not understand the questions she's asked and then she won't be able to be assessed correctly.

Good luck.

Tony246

@wilko thanks for the response. Doing a bit of both was what I was planning but I just wanted to make sure that this was acceptable to the assessor.

Tony

Tony246

Thanks @poppy123456 we will all be going but obviously only one of us will sit in with her. We will ask the HCP to change the arrangements if possible. My wife is getting a bit stressed out over this thats why I have done all the paperwork. In the meantime I'll have to go over the assessment form with her so that she understands the importance of desciptors incase she has to go in. I've been preparing myself for weeks over this and "think" I've got it sussed but now we have to replan

Tony

curiousmom1996

It depends on what the LD is. I have a mild/specific learning difficulty and I always speak up for myself when I am working and at shops and restaurants too.

poppy123456

My daughter has a learning disability and Autism and she would never speak for herself, infact she doesn't speak to people she doesn't know and always needs support and assistance for things like this.

curiousmom1996

poppy123456 said:

My daughter has a learning disability and Autism and she would never speak for herself, infact she doesn't speak to people she doesn't know and always needs support and assistance for things like this.

No offence but all learning difficulties like physical impairments are different for each person. Even I don’t talk to strangers...

Tony246

curiousmom1996 said:

It depends on what the LD is. I have a mild/specific learning difficulty and I always speak up for myself when I am working and at shops and restaurants too.

I think she's considered as moderate but the impact on her everyday life is massive. Needs permament support. As I said she hasnt mentally matured, she's like a young child. Loveley but vunerable.

poppy123456

curiousmom1996 said:

poppy123456 said:

My daughter has a learning disability and Autism and she would never speak for herself, infact she doesn't speak to people she doesn't know and always needs support and assistance for things like this.

No offence but all learning difficulties like physical impairments are different for each person. Even I don’t talk to strangers...

I never said they were the same but thanks. The reason why i made the suggestion to Tony in the first place was because he did mention that his daughter hasn't matured mentally, which suggested that she wouldn't be able to answer the questions herself. Which is just like my daughter.

Chloe_Alumni

Welcome to the community @Tony246! I hope the assessment goes okay and please do let us know if we can do anything else yo help.

Tony246

Update on process.

recieved letter today from DWP stateing they have all the information they need to decide if they can award PIP. Said theres no need to contact them, they'll write when a decision has been made.

Not had f2f though so that will be nice if its not needed.

Chloe_Alumni

Hi @Tony246, thank you for updating us! I'll keep my fingers crossed for you!

Tony246

Hi all

Finally had a decision. Never had to have a f2f and have been awarded enhanced for daily living and mobility. There was a couple of points decisions I didnt agree with but we easily passed the threshhold and I'm not going to rock the boat by challenging them. Also no review for 10 years.

I spent a lot of time reseaching PIP assesments and trying to thoroughly understand how to answer the questiions. I made sure everthing was consistent and nothing contradicted. My biggest fear was the mobility answer so I wrote that first and then backed that up by using similar or same words in the daily living part. Examples being, if you cant read then you cant travel by public transport. If you cant make financial decisions, how do you know if you have enough money to pay the fare. If you have a cognitive impairment, do you know what side of the road the bus stop is.

I deliberately didnt mention anything about emotional distress in the daily living so that it wouldnt be relevant on the mobility which could of resulted in 10 points. There was no way I was going to give them the opportunity to interpret things differently.

Thats how I did it and it worked for me. I didnt even write long answers. Never filled a box or needed extra notes. Just kept it relevant and accurate

As a disclaimer, my daughter has a recognised genetic disorder so I may be guilty of making it seem easier than it is.

But thats my experience and I hope by sharing it others may benefit.

all the best

Tony

poppy123456

Fantastic news, thanks for sharing, we definitely need more of these good news threads.

Chloe_Alumni

That's great news @Tony246! Thank you for letting us know! I agree with @poppy123456, we need to hear more stories like this!

atlas46

Hi @Tony246

Great result for your daughter and well done you, for making a sound claim.

It’s always good to see such positive outcomes, for the community to see.

Best wishes

kami24

Good to hear. Hope you have all support you need now

April2018mom

Tony246 said:

Hi all

Finally had a decision. Never had to have a f2f and have been awarded enhanced for daily living and mobility. There was a couple of points decisions I didnt agree with but we easily passed the threshhold and I'm not going to rock the boat by challenging them. Also no review for 10 years.

I spent a lot of time reseaching PIP assesments and trying to thoroughly understand how to answer the questiions. I made sure everthing was consistent and nothing contradicted. My biggest fear was the mobility answer so I wrote that first and then backed that up by using similar or same words in the daily living part. Examples being, if you cant read then you cant travel by public transport. If you cant make financial decisions, how do you know if you have enough money to pay the fare. If you have a cognitive impairment, do you know what side of the road the bus stop is.

I deliberately didnt mention anything about emotional distress in the daily living so that it wouldnt be relevant on the mobility which could of resulted in 10 points. There was no way I was going to give them the opportunity to interpret things differently.

Thats how I did it and it worked for me. I didnt even write long answers. Never filled a box or needed extra notes. Just kept it relevant and accurate

As a disclaimer, my daughter has a recognised genetic disorder so I may be guilty of making it seem easier than it is.

But thats my experience and I hope by sharing it others may benefit.

all the best

Tony

When I filled out the application form earlier this year, I didn't provide too many details. I too spent several minutes preparing myself mentally. The questions were not difficult to understand. I did not bother to keep a diary.
I did not attach extra or multiple sheets of paper to the claim form either. I decided there was no way I would allow them to tell me a bunch of shocking lies. I know much more about spina bifida than they do. For supporting evidence, I mailed off one photocopy of either a report or a hospital appointment letter.
I handle benefits as I’m the only family member who can actually read.

poppy123456

April2018mom said:

When I filled out the application form earlier this year, I didn't provide too many details. I too spent several minutes preparing myself mentally. The questions were not difficult to understand. I did not bother to keep a diary.
I did not attach extra or multiple sheets of paper to the claim form either. I decided there was no way I would allow them to tell me a bunch of shocking lies. I know much more about spina bifida than they do. For supporting evidence, I mailed off one photocopy of either a report or a hospital appointment letter.
I handle benefits as I’m the only family member who can actually read.

Wasn't that for a DLA claim and not PIP? If so then they are completely different benefits.

Adrian_Scope

That's brilliant news @Tony246!

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