PIP Change of circumstances

Honeypot12

Good afternoon lovely people, I think I have made a big mistake, I have been recently visiting this site and have only just joined, please don't judge me on my conditions as I am finding alot of people are, I was admitted to hospital last year may 21, spending 4 weeks in hospital and being diagnosed with alcoholic liver disease and ascites and cirrhosis and spontaneous peritonitis, hyponatraemia, and hepatitis c, I claimed pip in September 21and was awarded standard for both in the November, I literally can't hardly walk, help with basically everything, from Oct 21, I got considerably worse, the pain in my spine, shoulder, hips stomach have become nearly unbearable, doctors sent me for scans which showed ostropenia of the spine and I have recently had a xray for osteoarthritis of the spine, the results are back today just waiting for my doctor to ring, sorry the long tex, my question is I done a change of circumstances in February, basically because anything I could do before I can't now, its so painful I'm bearly holding it together, I'm on 14 different medications including amitriptyline, codeine, morphine but nothing is helping, did I do right by the change of circumstances? I am truly grateful for my award, I honestly didn't want a higher award I am grateful with the standard, I was what I purely thought was just telling them the change, after Reading all the stories on here I'm worried they will take it off me, thank you for listening xx

poppy123456

Whether you're entitled to a higher award will totally depend on exactly how your conditions affect you against the 12 PIP activities. PIP isn't about a diagnosis.

Although it's too late now but before reporting changes you should always get some expert advice from an agency near you. Your award could either stay the same, be reduced or you could be awarded a higher amount.

Your current PIP award will continue until a decision's been made on the change of circumstances. You should expect another assessment because most people have them. Backlogs are causing quite a lot of delays with assessments so you could be waiting several months.

Honeypot12

Thank you for the reply, I got awarded pip in November 21, my disabilities started to get worse a month before, and has just kept progressing, I have not mentioned to pip about the new diagnosis as I did not have them then and was just telling them about my increase of help needed, like my scooter I'm in nearly all the time now where on previous claim I only needed it for longer distances, washing and dressing etc all needing more help now, the lady I phoned at pip advised me to do the change of circumstances as it was a newish claim and I have deteriorated alot from the time I was awarded 

Alex_Alumni

Hello @Honeypot12 and welcome to the community, well done for reaching out today and asking your question, it's not always an easy thing to do. I've just moved your post over into our PIP category so our members can share their thoughts more easily.

I'm sorry to hear about your conditions becoming more difficult to manage, I don't think you've done anything wrong with the change of circumstances. Once the change is reported, if the DWP wants to assess you again they will send you a new ‘How your disability affects you’ form to complete.

You should fill in the form and send it back by the date given on the front page - check how to complete the PIP form on citizens advice.

You can also seek professional advice on your next steps from AdviceLocal

If there's anything you feel you'd still like help with then please do say  

Alex

Jo_2022

Good afternoon https://forum.scope.org.uk/profile/Honeypot12! A warm welcome to you  .

Thank you for sharing your experience with us. I am sorry to hear about the issues you are having. It sounds like you have a lot to cop with, especially living with pain can cause a great deal of suffering. 

Please feel free to share anything you wish to discuss; this is a safe space and no one will judge you for anything.

I would suggest you seek assistance from the Citizens Advice Bureau with your change of circumstances situation. 

Good luck! 

Honeypot12

Thank you again for the reply, I have had and sent the forms back beginning of March, as said previously I only did the forms on the advice from a pip lady to do it, I was just wondering if anyone else done a change of circumstances for pip so soon after being awarded it, I had 3 years but like the lady said do it as its along way off being reviewed, but after I done it I was just hoping she was being genuine for telling me to do it, no disrespect to the lady but its not her money she could loose, well at the end of the day il just have to wait and hope for the best, thank you again for your reply, seems a lovely bunch of people on here x

Honeypot12

Thank you that means a lot x

Honeypot12

Thanks, I have been lucky were I have never needed any benefits, always been lucky to have a job I really loved, unfortunately now I don't work so all this is new to me

poppy123456

Honeypot12 said:

 I only did the forms on the advice from a pip lady to do it

For future reference, when you ring PIP, you're talking to someone from a call centre. They are not the ones to give any such advice because they will have no idea how exactly your conditions affect you. They have almost no benefits knowledge.

Alex_Alumni

Hi @Honeypot12 how have things been going?

Honeypot12

Hello Alex, not to bad thank you, lovely evening sun, just felt a bit unwell last few days, hopefully just a case of feeling under the weather, how are you 

Alex_Alumni

Oh hopefully so @Honeypot12, and yes, the sunshine always cheers me up! I'm quite alright thanks for asking

Have you heard any more from the DWP? It might well be a while to wait though 

Honeypot12

I've not heard anything as yet, it's the waiting game tho isn't it, keep thinking if I've done the right thing, but the more I think about it the more positive thoughts I have, I believe I done the right thing, and what will be will be, another lovely day weather wise, sounds silly but I think the weather makes you feel more positive and stronger, my husband helped me do some flowerpots for the patio, even tho I only placed the flowers in the pot and husband had to do the rest, they look very nice, always loved gardening but I can't do it now, but just by doing the flower part is a positive thing for me, hope everyone else is feeling OK and feeling that little bit better with the lovely sunshine ☀, x

Alex_Alumni

I certainly am @Honeypot12 there's something about sunny weather and green spaces that really lift the spirits  

Hope you enjoy your Sunday, and well done for staying positive!

Honeypot12

Good morning everyone, just a quick pop in to hi, and how is everyone getting on, 

Honeypot12

Good morning a day late in replying, not much going on today, just the sitting game in waiting for my daughter to come home from school and the husband from work, can feel like forever when alone all day waiting, think I'm going to look for a good film to watch on Netflix or some channel, there's to many channels these days for me, it takes me half the day to decide what channel to watch, think I prefer the old 123channels, least you only had a few to pick from then or a dvd 😅🤔 any recommendations? I do like a good horror 👀👻👀

L_Volunteer

@Honeypot12 - Good afternoon! A day late in replying is nothing, please don't worry. The most important thing is you are looking after yourself and feel comfortable reaching out when you want to. No horror recommendations in particular but if you have Netflix I like the button where it will choose you something to watch based on what you have previously watched because I also find it takes me too long to decide what to watch 

Honeypot12

Afternoon all, thought I'd just let you know that I've received my pip award letter, they are still giving me standard award on both, I am really pleased with that, and extended my award for an extra 4months, ( not sure why the 4 months), so obviously I've had a paper based one as had no contact since sending my forms back, I just wanted to say it's not all doom and gloom if you put in a change of circumstances, just keep it short and to the point, I was worried I'd done the wrong thing and was going to have it took away from me from what I've read on here, that's why I thought I'd let you all no that it's not always the case, so pleased I haven't got to go through another telephone assessment , the first one I had was horrendous, 

Tori_Scope

Thanks for sharing @Honeypot12 And congratulations! I hope that you've been able to relax a bit since receiving the letter? 

morr12

Thank you for sharing @Honeypot12 and congratulations on the outcome. Please can I ask how long it took for them to process the change of circumstances? Many thanks 

Honeypot12

Hello morr12, I sent paper work 7th March, and received the dession letter beginning of June I think, sorry I can't remember the exact date, I did write on here when I received it, about around 11 weeks roughly, from start to finish, like I said I had no contact from them, just a dession letter, so no phone call assessment or  ftf appointment, hope this helps,