What's your experience?

ansy1955

hello, hope you can help.  I had a bad accident at work as a nurse 30 years ago and even with surgical help things did not improve. I had to change job and retrain in order to remain a nurse be it in a non physical position.  I have always been on high rate mobility allowance DLA but was called for a PIP assessment and downgraded to standard rate Mobility and standard carers.  This means I will loose my mobility car and probably my blue badge.  My physical situation has not changed in fact worsened over the years. In the report they stated that I was not in pain and calm. The facts are that I could not sit for the whole 1.5 hours had to lean and move around was told that I would not be examined as the pain was taking its toll.  I spent much of the assessment in tears stating the truth that life was so hard with chronic pain and not leading a normal life and having to depend upon my partner of 30 years had meant I wanted to give up. During this time on numerous occasions I was in tears and sometimes sobbing. The assessor appeared very sympathetic to my distress but this amounts other things have not been mentioned in my report. I have heard many stories about people contesting the decision to the DWP only ending up loosing out all together.  I used my car to work just 12 hours per week and park in the disabled bay. I cannot walk to the station or bus stop and if I could am not able to use public transport.

can anyone advise me on what there experience has been.  Years ago the DWP did the same thing and I had fight to get my benefits back which was very distressing experience

thank you

Ails

Hi ansy1955 and welcome to the Community.  It is nice to meet you and thank you for sharing with us.  I'm very sorry to hear of everything you have been going through in your DWP journey.  It is a very distressing experience and can understand why you have been so upset.  Many of us on here have experienced some stressful times in our DWP journeys, including myself, and am sure will want to share with you their experiences on here.

When I was coming off DLA to PIP, my benefit got stopped for some weeks and I had to return my Motability car, which was really traumatic for me as I was working at the time and used my car daily.  So had to end up relying on my dad and friends to take me around places which made me really frustrated at losing my independence.  So I can relate to how you are feeling.

If there is any way we can help/support you then please just let us know and please keep in touch and let us know how you are getting on.  All the best. 

chiarieds

Hi @ansy1955 - Welcome to the community & thank you for joining us all. I'm very sorry to read about you're accident whilst nursing. You show determination in retraining to carry on nursing in a different capacity, which is great.

I too had to migrate from DLA to PIP, & just got the standard rate for both daily living & mobility. So I went through a Mandatory Reconsideration (MR) & was awarded the enhanced rate for mobility. Unfortunately less than 1 in 5 are successful at this stage & many therefore go on to appeal. Currently the good news is that more phone tribunals are successful.

You have one month from the date of your decision letter to go for a MR. It's your decision, but I think having the time to write, explaining exactly how your disability affects you, giving a couple of examples for each descriptor that applies, showing where you should have gained points, will increase your chance of getting enhanced mobility.

If you have any questions about MRs, I'm sure others will advise. As Ails says, let us know how you get on please, & do chat here any time.

Chloe_Alumni

Welcome to the community @ansy1955, just wanted to check in to see how you are doing.

abigail71

Hi, might not be very useful to you but I didn't get mobility, and I can still have a blue badge. 
I don't know if each council does it differently but here you can supply evidence of why you need a blue badge, and you might get sent to an assesment centre basically just for someone to see you to make sure what your writing about your conditions ect is actively still happening and just being impartial about your conditions.
I know a few people like me who don't claim any benefits even though they could, like pip, and still have a blue badge. I know it doesn't help with the car part at all, but you can still have your blue badge and hopefully get your rates back up to what they should be. ?