Help filling out pip forms in Liverpool

lisafef

Hi does anybody know of any were in liverpool that helps filling out pip forms I've tried citizens advice and no appointments b4 forms have to be back in and I've tried liverpool association for disabled but they charge £50 for advice 

chiarieds

Hi @lisafef - Welcome to the community & thank you for joining. If you put your postcode in using the link below, you may be able to find other organisations that may be able to help.

See: https://advicelocal.uk/    Just choose 'Welfare benefits' from the drop down box.

Did you know you can ring the DWP & ask for a 14 day extension for your forms to be sent back in? Hope this helps, & let us know how you get on.

janer1967

Hello and welcome to the community, I hope you find some help in completing your forms, do you have any relatives or friends that could help you they may not be experts but could help.

The main advice to complete the form is to do it a bit at a time and to explain against each indicator how your condition affects you eg what happens when you try to do the task, giving examples fort example last time I tried to cook I I burnt myself as I cant grip the pans, this is just an example

Sometimes you are the best person to complete the forms as you are the one that knows how you are affected on a daily basis

poppy123456

Hi and welcome,

I totally agree with @janer1967 that you are the best person to fill out that form. You are the only person that knows how your conditions affect you. There's no specific wording that you should or should use, just tell it how it is. I wouldn't write your life story though, just keep it straight to the point.

Use extra sheets of paper if there's not enough room on the form but make sure you add your NI number and name to each extra sheet.

lisafef

Hi the forms are for my son I am his appointee it's hard as I just live that life and do everything he needs but writing it down is so hard

poppy123456

I completely understand how difficult it is. We just get used to doing the things we do for them and don't think about how much we do.

I'm my daughters appointee too and i filled out her review forms myself last year. It was the first time i've ever done a form myself. Usually i would ask an advice agency to help but to be honest it's also very difficult to tell them how she's affected by her condition because there's never enough of time to tell them everything you need to tell them.

Then they hardly put any information down, which often makes the claims process even more difficult.

I did a couple of questions each day and used extra sheets of paper. Once the form was complete i moved onto the evidence. I always keep everything in a file so i know where to find it if it's needed. I sorted through what i thought was relevant and what wasn't because it's pointless sending huge amounts if it's not relevant. She actually had a paper based assessment that time, thanks to the information i put on the form.

If you need extra time then you can ring DWP to request a further 14 days, which they always agree to.

Just take a little time to think before you answer each question. Use scrap paper first, if you have to and then transfer it to the form. There's no specific wording that you should use, just explain what he needs help with.

For example, dressing and undressing, does he need prompting/assistance with this? Maybe you need to tell him when to change his clothes because maybe he's worn them for quite a few days without realising they are now dirty. My daughter has a habit of doing this because she has her favourite clothes and will wear them forever, if i let her. If you need to do this for your son tell them why you need to do this and what would  happen if you didn't prompt him to change his clothes.

She also needs assistance to know what clothes to wear for the type of weather we have. If i didn't assist her with this she would wear a thin jacket during the winter or a thick coat and jumper on a hot day. I advise her the most appropriate clothes for the weather we have. Does this happen to your son? If so then tell them.

Washing and bathing. Does he need assistance/prompting to do this? Maybe he needs assistance because he doesn't know or understand water temperature? if so then tell them what you need to do to keep him safe, do you need to make sure the water temperature of the shower or bath is correct? I have to do this for my daughter and several times she's gone into the shower and shouted because it's either too hot or too cold. I have to go into the bathroom to change the temperature, if i wasn't there she wouldn't know what to do and could scold herself under the hot water. Tell them all those little details because it's those resl life examples are what makes all the difference.

I hope this has helped a little.

lisafef

That's helped a lot thank you for all your advice it just felt like I was repeating my self a lot on the form that's why I was worried I was not putting the right information down I am defo going to fill them in myself after all I know him best

anisty

@lisafef, just to back up what Poppy is saying: I found it helpful to take each task and think about what stages of each task my son's ability breaks down.

If i was unsure (like in the prepare meal one) i asked him to do the task and then i could see exactly what was happening. 

My son has autism and learning difficulties. His learning difficulty has a huge impact on his ability to initiate any task (luckily i had a report to back this up)

So, i knew he had never made a meal apart from when he went on one of these support group cook things, and i hadnt seen that.

And i knew he could peel a potato as he does that in the cafe he volunteers at (supported for disabled volunteers)

But i hadnt seen that either.

So i genuinely  didnt know what factors exactly were stopping him. And i was curious to know if he could actually do it.

It is incredible what factors come into play on a task like that.

So for my son

- first i had to catch him in a 'receptive mood' i didnt put this on his form but if he is asked too many questions or feels pressured into something he cant do, he will withdraw.

- he wasnt too chuffed so i put a board, peeler and potato out for him. He started in an angry fashion so i left him to it.

I returned a few mins later. The potato was peeled! But he was just standing there like 'right, done. Can i go now?!'


So,  for the form i had identified

- my son never eats a meal so has no motivation to learn to cook one and has diagnosed difficulties in task initiation. He only eats single items and no fruit or veg at all.

- he struggles to initiate a task and then co ordinate all the steps together to get something from start to finish.

- getting 2 or 3 meal componants cooked so they all were ready at the same time he cant do as he has very slow processing. This was highlighted in a report i sent.

I wrapped up by saying i think he probably could be taught to cook a simple meal but it would take many weeks and then if we wanted him to learn another dish, we would need to start the teaching process again as he doesnt generalise. I hoped that would help them understand how he learns.


The clothes one was a funny one as I confidently ticked 'no' and even wrote 'no problem in this area' on the form. As he gets dressed himself.

It was only after posting the form and i saw him going for his bus in torrential rain in his thin jacket, no hood (more like a shirt) I thought 'crikey, i answered that wrong'

As usually, if i saw him going out like that, i would say to him to wear a waterproof and he would change it no fuss. These are the little things you do without thinking.  It isnt a massive issue like it was when he was younger which is why im perceiving 'no problem'

He always wears a t shirt and the exact same zip up cardigan. The cardy doesnt get washed nearly as often as it needs but he has a few t shirts and has specific ones he must wear when working at the cafe.


(When he started at the cafe, i had no idea they had given him 2 brand new t shirts. Id never seen them as he always has this zip up cardy on. He had been wearing those same t shirts for about 5 months unwashed til i found them!!!!!)


So he doesnt have an issue that takes up a lot of my time as he will put the t shirts in for washing (when told to of course)  but i think he does have a problem in that area still!


So - really have a think about the steps involved in each task and how much help you (or someone else) gives.

You dont say in your post what your son's disability is but if you do have reports to send in and they refer to (for example) a learning problem, try to give an example of a task he cant do that links to the report.  E.g if he couldnt assemble a block pattern on an assessment then that could fit with not being able to put a meal together or an outfit of clothing together. 


Look at the descriptors and make sure you understand what they mean. 

All the ideas about the scrap paper writing first and doing one question at a time definitely help!


Good luck!

anisty

Ah - thanks for pointing that out @Username_removed!  You're right - and i dont even know if the claim i put in for my son is successful yet so maybe i will hold back on my 'advice' for now