Sharing experiences about PIP

PIPtheDog

I am very pleased to join you and to share experiences and support with people who really know what disability feels like. I despair at the fact that staff at the DWP who are often not medically qualified make decisions that impact on our lives. I was awarded the top rate for both components of PIPs many years ago and told that it would be for life. 

PIPtheDog

The Government wanted to save money and what is easier than cutting benefits? They could not legally go back on a statement to award DLA  (sorry, I said PIPs above when it should be DLA) for life so the only solution was to abolish DLA and make everyone reapply for PIPs. I have several medical conditions, including an incurable progressive blood cancer. I was told I didn't qualify for PIPs  because I sent my form in late. It was late because the symptoms of my conditions make it so difficult to get things done. I am frustrated and exhausted! I know many of you will have had similar experiences. I have supportive doctors who wrote good letters for my application form but they have all gone unread. 
I just wanted to say how pleased I was to join you and tell you a little about myself. I am sorry that I am at a bit of a crisis at the moment. I cope with the stress by cuddling my cat Benny. I love taking care of him and spoiling him.

poppy123456

Hi and welcome,

PIP and DLA are different benefits with different criteria. Being entitled to DLA for life doesn't automatically entitle you to PIP i'm afraid. PIP isn't awarded based on a diagnosis, it's how those conditions affect your ability to carry out daily activity based on the PIP descriptors.

Letters from a GP are not the best evidence to send because a GP will very rarely know how your conditions affect you. They will only ever know the basics like diagnosis, what medication you take and what appointments you had.

May i ask when the decision was made on your PIP claim? If it was within the last month then you can request the Mandatory Reconsideration (MR) if that fails and most do then it's Tribunal.

PIPtheDog

Hi Poppy123456,
Thank you for your interest in this case.
The letter informing me of the decision is dated 9th of August. However, since then I have had an unplanned admission to hospital due to complications of my condition. Also I am having intervention from the Mental Health Crisis Team, which lasts about a month. Both of these factors together contribute to me not making the one month deadline to request a Mandatory Reconsideration. Their decision was not made on medical grounds. Ignoring my application means they have not given themselves the opportunity to look at the evidence and see how my condition affects my ability to do tasks efficiently and easily.
Have you any further advice?
                 Best wishes,
                    PIPtheDog

poppy123456

PIPtheDog said:

Hi Poppy123456,
Thank you for your interest in this case.
The letter informing me of the decision is dated 9th of August. However, since then I have had an unplanned admission to hospital due to complications of my condition. Also I am having intervention from the Mental Health Crisis Team, which lasts about a month. Both of these factors together contribute to me not making the one month deadline to request a Mandatory Reconsideration. Their decision was not made on medical grounds. Ignoring my application means they have not given themselves the opportunity to look at the evidence and see how my condition affects my ability to do tasks efficiently and easily.
Have you any further advice?
                 Best wishes,
                    PIPtheDog

You're welcome. May i just ask if you were refused because your form was returned late? If that's correct then this is what you need to concentrate on when you request the MR. Even though you are outside of the 1 month deadline, with good reason you do have 13 months and in my opinion, you have good reason. If the MR fails then it's Tribunal.

If you can get some face to face advice from an agency near you then i would advise you to do this.

poppy123456

Chobbly said:

@poppy123456
Quote:

Letters from a GP are not the best evidence to send because a GP will very rarely know how your conditions affect you. They will only ever know the basics like diagnosis, what medication you take and what appointments you had.

end quote:

Where do you get the evidence from?.....if not oneself?...Its the assessors opinion in that hour that its all based on it seems.

I get that the lady is saying why the Government switched to PIP from DLA ..

And yep....its all about the symptoms...and they knew enough to know, that its this area...that they could muddy the waters...

I tell you(you being the assessor) i cant do x y & z most times....So what are the assessors basing their retort of "this applicant CAN do x y z" when theyve only met you for 50mins+

When i have appointments at hospital or anywhere else (not GP) i will always be sent a copy of the letter that's sent to my GP. I keep everything i'm sent, this way when it's time for reviews for my PIP and ESA i have everything i need. Same for my daughter and i keep everything in a file.

Telling the assessor that you can't do XYZ most times is not enough of information. You need to explain why you can't do that activity regularly, reliably, without pain and discomfort and giving a couple of real life examples will always help a claim.

poppy123456

@Chobbly this is always going to be peoples argument that the HCP's are not qualified and they don't know enough about a certain condition to judge anyone but as you stated yourself, everyone is affected differently by these conditions and you never get 2 people the same.

Everyone is sent forms to fill in and it's the claimants responsibility to put as much information as possible on those forms. They need to explain how their conditions affect them because there's never going to be enough of time during any assessment to go through everything they need to go through. The assessment is purely to verify what you said in the form and to gather extra information, if needed. If they allowed time to go through everything during the assessment then appointments would run into 3-4 hours, sometimes longer for some people. If this happened the backlogs would be even longer and they are already long in some areas.

I've said it many times and i'll say it again, people come to forums for advice because they haven't been awarded, or they need help/advice with a claim, they do not come to a forum if they've been awarded because they don't have any questions to ask. We then don't hear their story. Lots of people successfully claim PIP, yourself and me included.

cristobal

@chobbly said:-

My point was...how do these unqualified assessors verify anything?   you know yourself...especially being a champion! that these assessors time and time again go against whats being told them.

You mention gps can hardly verify what we all do at home..ie how we wash etc..so who do we get to verify this ? if not ourselves....and even then...even then., its ignored...!

They seem to use a combination of factors for verification but, never having worked for DWP, I don’t know for certain. 

A combination of what your doctor says, what you say, and an assessment about what’s likely and what’s not. And unfortunately, assumptions about what you can do. As you say your GP is never likely to know if you have difficulty at home so this will come from the claimant.

For example- if you say that you have difficulty chopping because you can’t hold a knife due to arthritis then that would probably be accepted as the one ‘corroborates’ the other.

I believe that it’s the Decision Makers at DWP who aren’t medically trained, not the assessors who are - often nurses, physios etc..

cristobal

@chobbly - I agree with you...

Nurses aren't likely to be trained in autism diagnosis - that's a specialist thing on it's own I understand...

pollyanna1052

chiarieds

@Chobbly - Nurses, physios & paramedics are all qualified people. I'm a physio & can send you a copy of my certificate should you wish......Please know I would never want to work as an assessor, but someone has to do it.

I agree, or at least feel as I think you do, that a mental health nurse may understand someone who mainly has MH issues better.

Personally, I was in charge of a large Mental Health Hospital of over 1100 patients, many of whom additionally had physical problems, for 3 years.

As a student, I worked, for instance with people who had bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, dementia & depression. I'm sure there were others who may have had other MH problems, but I always looked at the whole person, to see how I may better help.

PIP is not perfect, but at Scope several have garnered as much information as they can to assist people all the way through the 'system.'

This community is very supportive in many ways, & I would ask that you are please respectful to others. I can well imagine there may be several people here that have worked as nurses or paramedics, all of whom will have worked hard to get their qualifications.

chiarieds

I am a Member of the Chartered Society of Physiotherapists (M.C.S.P. ) I'm sorry if you feel I was not being respectful, that was not my intent. I was asking that you please be respectful to people who have qualifications.

I'm sorry to say that I do not feel some of which you have written about factual, unless you can prove that assessors do not have any qualifications, & might show where you have referenced this from, thank you.

cristobal

@chiareds @chobbly

Does this help? It's from one of Capita's job adverts?

Don't know what a 'valid pin' is though??

We are looking for nurses, occupational therapists, paramedics and physiotherapists with at least 2 years’ post registration experience to join us. You’ll have excellent observational and decision-making skills, strong report writing skills and you’ll be computer literate, as typing while assessing is a huge part of this role and will be tested at interview. Applicants must be fully registered without restriction or conditions with the NMC or HCPC and have a valid PIN, plus hold a full current driving licence with access to a car.

poppy123456

As a community champion here on scope i'd like to remind you that this is a friendly forum and we are here to give advice and support to others. If you don't like a members comments then there's an ignore button that can be used, this way you won't see that persons comments.

cristobal

@chobbly - I don't have a firm view one way or the other. I had a nurse for my assessment - who was poor - but I think that this was very much due to the individual not her qualifications. 

I'm not an apologist for either DWP, or Capita (who were appalling from start to finish) but I posted really in reply to you earlier posts, which are incorrect:-

'I presented my information in a factual manner..' and 'how do these unqualified assessors verify anything?'

cristobal

@chobbly - I think you agree now (I hope) that the assessors are qualified - what's at issue is the nature and quality of the qualifications.

You're right ...time to finish on this one!

poppy123456

Chobbly said:

poppy123456 said:

As a community champion here on scope i'd like to remind you that this is a friendly forum and we are here to give advice and support to others. If you don't like a members comments then there's an ignore button that can be used, this way you won't see that persons comments.

Lanarkshire...

Meaning?

Adrian_Scope

Sadly, I've had to remove a few posts from this discussion.

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Adrian_Scope

I also want to say hello and welcome to @PIPtheDog. It's great to have you with us and I look forward to seeing you around the community. I'm really sorry to read that your application to PIP hasn't been successful. As @poppy123456 has mentioned, with good reason you are able to submit a late mandatory reconsideration up to 13 months from the decision. If you need any help with this, please let us know and we can do our best to assist you.