Failed MR

Ballyblade

Hi all! 

My son lost his DLA when he transferred to PIP. They repeatedly said that even though he told them he couldn't do x,y & z, because he turned up, dressed appropriately, attends mainstream school without the assistance of a classroom assistant, has no significant restrictions in his intellect, information processing and working memory & has a qualification in sailing (!!) it is therefore likely that he is capable of being independent and only awarded him 2 points for mixing with people, which I imagine is standard for ASD. 

In my extra evidence for the MR I went through each descriptor explaining the issues he had - which they acknowledged he had said in his f2f - and highlighted the level of support he required from myself. I submitted a supporting letter from a medical Consultant who is a family friend and knows my son well.

I asked them that if they are going to uphold the original decision, what experience & training re ASD do the assessors have has it appears they have an alarming lack of insight. I also specifically asked them why these were the only things they kept referring to and why no other areas of executive functioning were given any credence or even mentioned. They appear to have little understanding of the condition. 

Needless to say the MR came back saying the  exact same thing as the initial decision. They did not address any of the questions I asked. 

I am going to put in a formal complaint about the assessment process. As a healthcare professional I know no other assessment that totally disregards the history given by the client and goes entirely on assessing someone across a desk for less than an hour. It is total painting by numbers and I fail to see how any accountable practitioner can stand over it. 

Everyone is saying oh it's just the system but the system is flawed and unless people challenge it nothing will change!!!

janer1967

Hi @Ballyblade I am sorry to hear your son's MR was not successful and no doubt you are aware only a small percentage are at this stage, not that this is right but its the truth.

The next stage is tribunal which have a lot higher success rate.

Lots of people make complaints and I would encourage you to do so but they all seem to fall on deaf ears.

Lots of people are successful in their claims including myself but we dont hear much about the success stories

Have you considered writing to your local MP 

poppy123456

Hi,

Only about 17% of MR decisions change, so it's not surprising the decision stayed the same.

What you need to do is state where you think he should have scored those points and your reasons why. The add a couple of real life examples of what happened the last time he attempted that activity for each descriptor that applies to him. You said you stated he can't do xyz BUT did you state why he can't do those things?

For example, does he need prompting to dress/undress? Do you have to remind him to change his clothes or advise him what he should wear for that particular weather? If so then tell them this, tell them what would happen if you weren't there to give him that advice.

Whilst it's extremely annoying to see all the lies/contradictions in the report, pointing these out will not get him a PIP award because the Tribunal will not be interested in what did or didn't happen. Pointing these out will only weaken his case.

The HCP doesn't need to have any specialist knowledge in any conditions because 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. As we are all affected differently by these conditions, it's impossible to compare 2 people.

There's no harm in complaining about the assessment report but my advice is to concentrate on the Tribunal request first and then put in your complaint.

poppy123456

Username_removed said:

Ballyblade said:

Hi all! 

My son lost his DLA when he transferred to PIP. They repeatedly said that even though he told them he couldn't do x,y & z, because he turned up, dressed appropriately, attends mainstream school without the assistance of a classroom assistant, has no significant restrictions in his intellect, information processing and working memory & has a qualification in sailing (!!) it is therefore likely that he is capable of being independent and only awarded him 2 points for mixing with people, which I imagine is standard for ASD. 

In my extra evidence for the MR I went through each descriptor explaining the issues he had - which they acknowledged he had said in his f2f - and highlighted the level of support he required from myself. I submitted a supporting letter from a medical Consultant who is a family friend and knows my son well.

I asked them that if they are going to uphold the original decision, what experience & training re ASD do the assessors have has it appears they have an alarming lack of insight. I also specifically asked them why these were the only things they kept referring to and why no other areas of executive functioning were given any credence or even mentioned. They appear to have little understanding of the condition. 

Needless to say the MR came back saying the  exact same thing as the initial decision. They did not address any of the questions I asked. 

I am going to put in a formal complaint about the assessment process. As a healthcare professional I know no other assessment that totally disregards the history given by the client and goes entirely on assessing someone across a desk for less than an hour. It is total painting by numbers and I fail to see how any accountable practitioner can stand over it. 

Everyone is saying oh it's just the system but the system is flawed and unless people challenge it nothing will change!!!

In essence then, by all means identify a couple of obvious flaws with the HCP report to damage its credibility but in order to get DLA you need to build up the case for DLA with anecdotal evidence. A case against a HCP is not grounds for an award of DLA.

Great advise as always @Username_removed however, the son was transfering from DLA to PIP. It makes no differnce i know but just incase the OP thinks it does.

Chloe_Scope

Welcome to the community @Ballyblade, thank you for taking the time to share this with us. I hope you and your son are well. Please do let us know how you get on and if there is anything you need clarifying.

katho31

Hi @Ballyblade and hope you are both well, we are all here  best wishes