PIP: if I’m not happy with the decision what can I do?

fnoble1204

Hi there so I applied for pip 20th july had my assessment on the 30th December my assessment went to Audit  dwp received my assessment on the 12th January 16 was approved for basic pip I had called for them to send me a copy of the report my question is if I’m not happy with the decision what can I do I’m not sure what scores I was given yet but with what’s have I feel I should be awarded the  max benifits I have spinal problems so I’m wheel chair bond can’t walk my partner baths me cooks for me etc  any advice 

Alex_Alumni

Hello @fnoble1204 and welcome, firstly, congratulations on being awarded PIP. To help our members with finding your post I've moved it into our PIP category and marked it as unanswered.

Secondly, if you feel you'd like to challenge the decision there's lots of information from Scope you can have a read of, as well as from Turn2Us. It might also be worth seeking advice locally, to help confirm if you have a case to be awarded the higher rate(s) of PIP. You can use AdviceLocal to find support.

If there's anything else you need help with please do let us know, and keep us up to date with how you get on

Alex

chiarieds

Hi @fnoble1204 - & welcome to the community.

As far as PIP goes, it's not about any diagnosis, but rather how your disability affects certain activities of daily living &/mobility. Have a look at the activities/descriptors that are looked at with PIP: 

https://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/asset-library/Personal-Independence-Payment-Descriptors-and-Scores-April-2021.pdf

You can ask for a Mandatory Reconsideration, where another decision maker will look at your claim again. This should be put in writing. Try & give a couple of recent, detailed examples as to the difficulty you face for each applicable descriptor, i.e. when did it happen, where, what happened, did anyone see this, & were there any consequences to attempting/doing an activity?

Say if you can't do an activity 'reliably,' i.e. safely, to an acceptable standard, repeat as often as one would reasonably expect, or if it takes you much longer than someone without a disability. See this mentioned at the end of the link above.

Keep a copy, & get a free Certificate of Posting from your Post Office when posting your Mandatory Reconsideration.

The Turn2Us link above is about tribunals, & the first stage of appeal is a Mandatory Reconsideration, so use this link instead: https://www.turn2us.org.uk/Benefit-guides/Challenging-a-Personal-Independence-Payment-decisi/Ask-for-Mandatory-Reconsideration#guide-content   Altho in this link it mentions that your award could be lowered, this very rarely happens.

Alex_Alumni

The Turn2Us link above is about tribunals, & the first stage of appeal is a Mandatory Reconsideration

Just to clarify @chiarieds the link I intended to use covers the whole process from when you decide to challenge a decision, but I just pasted in the section halfway through by mistake. This is the one I meant to share- What are my options?

My apologies for any confusion @fnoble1204 and I hope you find our replies useful

fnoble1204

Good evening I received my assessment report today I don’t see the score I was given what’s confuses me is the front part of the assessment contradicts the last few pages of the assessment . They say they mailed my award letter on the On the 18th  I asked for my assessment report on the 20th I received my assessment letter but not my reward lette do they not come from the same place 

poppy123456

The points are not added up in the assessment report because they are recommendations only. You can add them yourself by comparing the dots in the boxes against the PIP descriptors. You can use the PIP self test for this https://www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/pip-test 
Just copy the dots from the report into the test above.
The decision letter will arrive soon I’m sure. 

If you’re not happy with the decision you can request the MR. I’d advise you to put the report to one side and forget about it because this isn’t going to help you score more points for a higher award. Great advice from Chiarieds above.

fnoble1204

Good morning 
so trying to get my documents all ready for my appeal  asked the doctor for a report and a letter of my medical condition they said they don’t give report because that’s not part of the nhs if I pay they would give me a report  I thought it was against the law to ask for payment for your medical report 

poppy123456

You can request to see your medical records for free and you will receive digital copies. https://www.nhs.uk/using-the-nhs/about-the-nhs/how-to-access-your-health-records/

You've asked your GP for a report and a letter, which they often charge you for.

However, a letter from your GP isn't the best evidence to send because they don't spend any time with you to know exactly how your conditions affect you. They don't see you preparing meals, washing/dressing etc etc.

What you need to do is give some real world examples of what happened the last time you attempted that activity for each descrptor that applies to you.

fnoble1204

@poppy123456 thanks you so much for all your help