Partner had PIP decision

PIPnewbie

Backstory (that some here will know): Applied in 2018 over symptoms of Crohn’s, multiple operations, shortened colon causing incontinence, and fibromyalgia.

DWP result: standard daily living
DWP award length: 2 years
MR result: upheld
Tribunal result: standard daily living and enhanced mobility
Tribunal award length: 3 years

The Tribunal awarded enhanced mobility on top due to anxiety over incontinence if out alone and the court stated the DWP grossly underestimated the psychological impact of her condition. They denied on upping her to enhanced daily living though because of struggling to acknowledge such difficulty with other things, but a few months later she was diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis, which now explained all the symptoms they struggled to believe.

She reapplied in April as her award was ending in June just gone. It was extended to October 4th due to them taking longer to give her an assessment.

She has now received her award dated just 9 days after they had received the assessment report despite saying it could take 8 weeks.

Result: standard daily living and standard mobility
Award length: 6 years

So interestingly her award length is huge in comparison to the piddly 2 years of her old award. Disappointed they state her situation might change when she has Crohn’s and AS. 

And this time they believed her walking distance and she received 10 points, likely due to her ankylosing spondylitis. But has fallen short of retaining her enhanced mobility by 2 points wherein they’ve completely removed the 10 points from her prievious award for not being able to go to unfamiliar places alone because of psychological distress. 

I’m appalled that they would disagree with the previous tribunal assessment about her need to travel accompanied. Why would she suddenly be tranquil about this?

Simply put, this will go to tribunal again if it needs to, as MR is a worthless formality. Thankfully she has some money in the interim this time.

Any advice or help would be welcomed and appreciated.

poppy123456

HI,

They wouldn't have had access to the Tribunal decision when making this decision. What they would have considered was her form, any other evidence she sent and the assessment report. A lot of incorrect awards are down to poorly completed forms.

You do need to go through the MR process first before you can take it to Tribunal. The good news is that MR success rates have incressed to about 50% (although that is falling) but it's still higher than the success rate when she first requested the MR a few years ago.

What she needs to do is state clearly where she thinks she should have scored those points and add a couple of real world examples of what happened the last time she attempted that activity for each descriptor that applies to her. Include detailed information such as where and when it happened, who (if anyone) seen it, what exactly happened and what the consequences were. This should have been done when completing the form.

PIPnewbie

Thank you @poppy123456

In addition to all you have stated, can she also include reference to the tribunal decision from before, as they were professionals whose judgement after talking to her and her experiences was that she clearly and obviously has psychological impact from her conditions.

The reason the decision maker didn’t award her anything for the psychological side of things is that she’s not on “extreme mental health medication” and not under professional mental health help, but she did explain on her form that she has been due to have therapy but the pandemic has set everything back for years.

PIPnewbie

Username_removed said:

You can reference the previous tribunal decision and clearly ought to have done so at the time of the application. However, it will carry limited weight at this point as the decision relates to a period which has passed. As you won the appeal I am guessing you didn't ask for a statement of  reasons and record of proceedings so you only have, at best, the summary decision. That isn't going to tell a DM anything much at all. 

I will ask her to check her notes as she keeps documents for everything. She may have this statement of reasons.

poppy123456

PIPnewbie said:

Username_removed said:

You can reference the previous tribunal decision and clearly ought to have done so at the time of the application. However, it will carry limited weight at this point as the decision relates to a period which has passed. As you won the appeal I am guessing you didn't ask for a statement of  reasons and record of proceedings so you only have, at best, the summary decision. That isn't going to tell a DM anything much at all. 

I will ask her to check her notes as she keeps documents for everything. She may have this statement of reasons.

I will be surprised if she does because it's not advised to ask for either SOR or the ROP when you win your appeal.

PIPnewbie

poppy123456 said:

PIPnewbie said:

Username_removed said:

You can reference the previous tribunal decision and clearly ought to have done so at the time of the application. However, it will carry limited weight at this point as the decision relates to a period which has passed. As you won the appeal I am guessing you didn't ask for a statement of  reasons and record of proceedings so you only have, at best, the summary decision. That isn't going to tell a DM anything much at all. 

I will ask her to check her notes as she keeps documents for everything. She may have this statement of reasons.

I will be surprised if she does because it's not advised to ask for either SOR or the ROP when you win your appeal.

I’m guessing it would be too late to request something from late 2019 now, correct?

poppy123456

Yes it would be too late. It's not good practice to request these anyway when you win because of the work involved for the Judge.

PIPnewbie

poppy123456 said:

Yes it would be too late. It's not good practice to request these anyway when you win because of the work involved for the Judge.

I see. Thank you @poppy123456

A lot of her daily living was rejected (she scored just 8 points, down from 10 at tribunal) because “you can drive a car”.

Is it worth appealing this? Not even for more money but just so the MR doesn’t result in her daily living standard rate being removed.

And it is a 6 year award so is it worth explaining that it seems her illnesses being degenerative thus not improving was completely ignored, or just take the 6 years and try again to get an ongoing award when the time comes to reapply in 2027?

poppy123456

An extra 2 points won't get her a higher daily living award. If she can't score at least another 4 points for Enhamced then no because it would be pointless.

With the length of the award, if you don't ask for a 10 year award then they will likely give a shorter award.

PIPnewbie

poppy123456 said:

An extra 2 points won't get her a higher daily living award. If she can't score at least another 4 points for Enhamced then no because it would be pointless.

With the length of the award, if you don't ask for a 10 year award then they will likely give a shorter award.

Sorry for the confusion, I just meant try for the higher points in daily living solely for the hope of them not taking them away thus removing her standard daily living.

As for the 10 year award, is this the ongoing award? As that’s what she asked for in her application.

poppy123456

PIPnewbie said:

poppy123456 said:

An extra 2 points won't get her a higher daily living award. If she can't score at least another 4 points for Enhamced then no because it would be pointless.

With the length of the award, if you don't ask for a 10 year award then they will likely give a shorter award.

Sorry for the confusion, I just meant try for the higher points in daily living solely for the hope of them not taking them away thus removing her standard daily living.

I know what you meant but my advice remains the same, if it's not possible to score the extra points for a higher award there's little point in going forward because you're wasting their time and yours.

As always, i agree with Mike here and expert advice is needed before your GF does anything else.