DLA to PIP for an epilepsy sufferer.

Paul7210

It sounds ridiculous, my wife Lisa had a Care Needs Assessment from our local council you could also be entitled to one of these along with your partner who would also be entitled to a Carers Assessment in their own right, has anyone ever mentioned this to you? your local social services should also have a welfare officer who can help with PIP i'm not sure if you live in Wales ,Scotland or Northern Ireland as things are slightly different. in these areas Here's the scores you need  https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/Global/Migrated_Documents/adviceguide/pip-9-table-of-activities-descriptors-and-points.pdf

Chloe_Alumni

Hi @tastytom and thank you for updating us all. I'm sorry your seizures have been bad at the moment and I hope this week goes more smoothly for you.

tastytom

@Chloe_Scope

No problem at all...it’s good to chat to folks who understand & are often in the same boat.
Have a lovely week ahead too! 

Chloe_Alumni

We're always around if you need anything.

tastytom

@Chloe_Scope @Paul7210

Hi again, I just wanted to update you regarding our above conversations. I received my Mandatory Reconsideration decision this morning and sadly they haven’t changed their minds or changed their original decision.
I only sent off my further info. on 4/10 and their decision letter is dated 11/10 so it certainly didn’t take then long to make their decision.
They stand by their decision that I am still able to cook my meals in a microwave oven even although I’m having 6-10 full seizures per week and disregarded the fact that I’ve badly scalded myself numerous times due to having a seizure whilst working in the kitchen ( I have absolutely no prior warnings of seizures occurring. ) 
They also said that I can manage my own medication regime because I am fully recovered from a seizure within one hour!
I could go on and on but I shan’t....actually upon reading their decision it’s the same as before...it doesn’t portray the true facts about my condition or about me...it’s like reading about a stranger who also has epilepsy ( if that makes sense. )
I’m so down and disheartened by the whole fiasco and to be honest I just feel like giving up completely as the stress and worry has really dragged me down to an all time low and my epilepsy is worse than ever.
My only option now is to appeal but I have no idea how long and how complex that procedure is and whether or not I have the willpower to deal with it all.
I hate my condition and I’d give anything to be seizure free and not have to give PIP a second thought.......has only taken their epilepsy based PIP claim to the appeal stage? How did it go? 

Chloe_Alumni

Hi @tastytom, I'm so sorry to hear this and cannot imagine how annoyed you must feel right now. Unfortunately, most decisions are not changed until a tribunal.

Here is some information about the process, but if you need anymore guidance then please do let us know.

Do you have anyone who you can talk to about this? I know it cannot be easy and you shouldn't have to go through this alone.

OverlyAnxious

Sorry to hear about your MR but they rarely do change anything, think it was only about 17% success rate I read on here!  I'm not even sure they read them tbh, mine almost looked like a direct copy of the first decision!

Plenty of info about tribunals on here but they aren't quick and will take some mental toll.  It is worth doing though, as you have nothing to lose financially as you weren't awarded anything before.  I'm only now starting the process myself so can't be of any more help but as you've only got a month to start the tribunal process, it really is doing as you may feel differently in a few months time.  I've read that the waiting list for tribunals is around 12 months currently so it's not a quick process!