Report is the opposite to what was said on the phone

nicolec_xo

So I’ve just gotten my report through the door and it’s just as I expected unfortunately, everything I had said I couldn’t do the assessor has said I could do.. she’s only given me 4 points for daily living and 12 for mobility which makes no sense to me at all as I’m currently on enhanced daily living due to epilepsy, depression, anxiety, scoliosis and migraines, so will now be took off daily living altogether according to this report of lies.. I don’t currently get any award for mobility..

chiarieds

Hi @nicolec_xo - I'm sorry your report wasn't entirely favourable from what I read. You say you got 12 points for the mobility component, is that correct? That would indicate that, if the DWP decision maker goes along with this report, you would likely be awarded the enhanced rate for this.

May I ask how does your epilepsy affect you? Is it well controlled with medication?

nicolec_xo

Yes according the the report it would be 12 points for mobility, it’s not unfortunately which I had said to her on the phone, I take 3-4 fits a week and I explained all this to the assessor 

Ross_Alumni

Hello @nicolec_xo

Sorry to hear about the inaccurate report, but I'm glad at least that you may get the mobility component, were you expecting that?

Do you know if you will be challenging the decision if the decision maker goes along with the report?

chiarieds

Thank you for your reply. Altho normally the DWP say that any difficulties you face have to occur over 50% of the time, with epilepsy this can be different, which was why I asked. It depends on what exactly happens, & the severity of any consequences. Whether or not a person can do an activity safely is considered, but, with epilepsy, the greater the potential harm, the less likely it is that a claimant could be considered able to do activities of daily living safely even if they only had a seizure once or twice a week, for example (rather than on the majority of days).

Once you get your decision letter you can ask another decision maker to look at it again with a Mandatory Reconsideration. What I suggest you do in the meanwhile, is to try & write down a couple of really detailed examples (as to how you were at the time of your assessment) of your seizures. Do you get any warning, what exactly happened, who witnessed it, where were you, & how did they leave you feeling afterwards? As I say, depending on this, you could potentially gain more points, as you could be said to be unsafe doing any of the daily living activities. Hope this helps, & please come back with any questions.

calcotti

I believe with seizures a lot depends on whether or not there is any advance indication of when a seizure is about to occur. If their is no advance warning the resultant risk is high. If there is an advance indication this may provide time to get top a safe place before the seizure occurs.
Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and epilepsy | Epilepsy Action

The greater the possible harm, the less attention the assessor will need to pay to how likely it is that it would happen. For people with uncontrolled epilepsy there is always the risk of having a seizure. The level of harm you could come to would depend on what type of seizures you have and how unpredictable they are.

nicolec_xo

When the decision letter comes through if I have got the enhanced mobility, is there then a chance if I put in for an MR I could lose that as well as still not getting anything for daily living?

chiarieds

In most cases a MR doesn't change a decision, but is a stage that has to be gone through before an appeal. Although you can ask for the daily living component to be looked at, everything will be looked at again, but, as I say, the award usually stays the same, tho it can be increased.

Put your MR in writing, & give those detailed examples mentioned above about your epilepsy.

nicolec_xo

the whole report has confused me a lot, as she has written down about my seizures and how they effect my day to day as I don’t know when they are going to happen and how dangerous is for me but completely then dismissed that on the points section 

chiarieds

Perhaps the decision maker will pick up on this, as, if you can't do an activity reliably, which includes safely, then you should gain points. The assessor doesn't seem to have considered 'safety.' See this extract from the Benefits & Works guide to PIP:

'....the decision maker should look at whether there is a real possibility that harm might occur and also at how great the harm might be. The greater the potential harm, the less likely it needs to be that it would happen on any specific occasion.
So, if there is a real possibility that a claimant with epilepsy might have a seizure whilst cooking then they reasonably require supervision for this activity, even though the chances of a seizure happening on any specific occasion may be quite small.
They should score points for needing supervision even if they don’t actually have anyone to provide it.'

If you don't succeed with a MR, which hopefully isn't the case, & may not even be needed, then tribunals have a good success rate.

woodbine

Unless you are very lucky the assessor will know very very little about epilepsy and a DM probably even less, so you have to spell it out for them. Epilepsy action might be of some help:

https://www.epilepsy.org.uk

joethebear

Sorry to hear of your predicament , I would think epilepsy would make all descriptors practically impossible to do repeatedly and safety in a timely manner when you can be incapacitated at any time without notice !! I would think that you would need constant supervision for your safety , best of luck with challenging report some of these assessors just hear what they want !! Very selective in my opinion