DLA transfer to PIP advice

waldo88

Hi, Im in the process of being moved over from DLA to PIP and was wanting some advice.

I got a letter at the start of Oct from dwp saying i was being moved to PIP from DLA and i would receive a form. I was due to move in a few weeks which was typical so i rang up and they changed my address in advance and sent the form to my new address, I returned the form with lots of medical evidence. The DWP got the form on Nov 9th.

I then got a txt on 13/12/19 saying that i had been booked in for a face to face medical on the 3/1/2020 with Medacs. Then strangley i got a letter from the DWP on the 16/12/19 saying that they have written to relavent people asking for evidence and if they cant obtain it i will be called for a medical face to face. This to me seems like i have been put in for a face to face medical without even giving time for people to return information they have asked for?

I then got a call from my go surgery on 17/12/19 asking me to go in on the 18/12/19 for the dr to fill in my PIP form that they had recieved. I went in and the dr at my surgery was really nice and filled in my form after asking me to answer in my own words. the funny thing is on the form he had, it had my old address which baffled me as the dwp paperwork for pip has my new address on, also the medacs assessing me have my new address as well, the dr corrected my address and i was told today the form has been sent off.

One question i have is, does this form go to the Medacs people or to the dwp? As today  20/12/19 i got a letter from the Medacs saying i do indeed have an appointment for the 3/1/20 . I was hoping that the drs form would arrive before my appointment and after reading it they might not need me to come in as the form described my problems really well, or am i deluding myself thinking they might tell me not to come in after getting the drs form?

I got my friend to ring up Medacs and ask for the face to face to be put back as that would give them more time to recieve the drs form and process it, its been put back to the 13th, should this give them time to process it? i was going to ask my friend to ring up in jan to find out if they recieved it and would that be enough evidence not to come to the face to face

I am on ESA in the support group as well and also said to them they should have access to my medicals from that. I do have a physical problem which also causes me mental health problems and this whole situation is causing me a lot of distress which i wrote down on my form.

The other thing which to me doesnt seem right is that the asessment center which is shown in a picture seems to be in a street with normal shops and appears to have a hairdressers attached to one side and a charity shop to the other and on the letter it says when you arrive you have to stand at the door and press the intercom and wait to be buzzed in, it just feels like they want to shame you as much as possible as everyone will know what you are going for when your made to wait outside the building in a street with other shops

any advice would be appreciated, thanks

woodbine

Hi I would say that most people have face2face assessments, and that they rarely write to anybody (gp's etc), so thats abit odd, I don't think they are trying to shame you tbh, my last assessment was in a medical centre with a big sign saying pip assessments this way >>

poppy123456

Hi and welcome,

It would have been the health assessment providers that would have sent the form to your GP and not DWP. DWP have nothing to do with face to face assessments and it would have been returned to the health assessment providers.

The issue that you have here is that when your GP filled out the form you told your GP what to put down and this could be classed as patient lead. A GP will very rarely know how your conditions affect you against the PIP descriptors, especially for things like how you prepare meals, how you wash and dress etc. A GP will only ever know the basics like diagnosis, medication and what appointments you've had. Which is the reason why a letter or evidence from a GP isn't the best.

You can certainly wait until the New Year and ring the health assessment providers to see what they say but my advice is to expect the face to face assessment because most people have them.

Your ESA Support Group award will not help your PIP claim because they are different benefits with different criteria.

Health assessment centres are very often buildings in a town, i know i've been to a face to face assessment in the past and it was in the middle of a town. Unfortunately, there isn't alot you can do about the location of the assessment centres.

waldo88

Hi Poppy, thanks for your reply ,advice, and help. I'm glad that the drs form goes back to the health assessor, Hopefully it will arrive and be processed before my medical Face to face.

I understand what you say abut the GPs form and leading the gp, but i have had my conditions for at least 25 years, my dr has all my medical history and knows about my problems. He asked me the questions and to answer in my own words and then said i will put this down.... are you ok with that.

If the Medical assessor are then saying that they cant take into account a drs report for someone who has had the same medical problems which are well documented because they might have discussed the form with the patient, after that health assessment company has asked the gp to fill the form in, doesn't that make a mockery of the whole thing? A dr wont put down anything that they don't believe to be true. The other thing is if the health care assessors call you in for a face to face medical and ask you the same questions that your own gp has asked you then surely that could be construed as me leading the assessors too,  the majority of my problems are mental health problems caused by a physical problem i have.

I also understand the ESA medical / benefit is different or has different things in it to the PIP, but a lot of the things i got accepted for on the esa are things that would be relevant for a PIP assessment and surely its worth while for a PIP assessor to have access to these medical reports whilst assessing for PIP as they could be quite insightful for lots of things on the medical? and could be combined and taken into account with other medical reports and drs reports, it just seems odd they would be completely over looked when they would be or should be available.

I have to say i am extremely distressed and anxious since i heard i had to go for the face to face medical as its something i would find extremely hard. I will just have to wait to Jan and get someone to ring up to see if they have got my drs form and live in the faint hope they wont then want me to come in! or at least that's what im trying to tell myself over the Christmas period as i have to try stop worrying about it as its making me quite ill.

Thanks again for your help, Hope you have a nice xmas

poppy123456

No problem.

Regardless of your GP being sent the form, you still told the GP what to write and this can be classed as patient lead. Even if your GP has known you for many years and you've had those conditions for a very long time a GP still wouldn't really know how your conditions affect you against the PIP descriptors. If your GP knew all of this then there wouldn't have been any need for you to tell them what to write.

No, they wouldn't look at your ESA claim because they are different benefits.

Having been for a face to face assessment myself quite a few times for ESA and PIP, i would be very surprised if anyone didn't find them very stressful and difficult but most people have them unfortunately.