PIP New Claim

Jake2195

Ok after being told many times over the years by CAB / Open Mental Health etc to make a claim for PIP I finally caved and applied back in march, I suffer from anxiety, depression, and paranoia, and I have not really left the house in the best part of 10 years other than the occasional trip to the shop in the early hours of the morning when they open and no one else is really around - and only when I am in desperate need for something that I cant just get delivered, for example, it's usually to get some milk or food/litter for my cat.
Ive had eating problems for most of my adult life, as such I might manage some toast or something some days, but a lot of the time i don't eat for days on end.
due to this (and having not gone out at all in the last 10 years or so) i am severely underweight, my physical health is terrible i struggle to climb my stairs i tire just from walking to the shop at the end of the road, buy time i get home i have to lie down. 
I'm not properly caring for myself - I'm not managing to get to the doctors for help - i don't even have a doctor anymore because i moved here last year and, well i don't go out...

i had a phone assessment due to not being able to get to the assessment center and because i don't leave the house.
requested a copy of my assessment, got it this morning and its All wrong, the lady i spoke to doesn't appear to have listened to anything i said. what she wrote down is mostly right though certain things she has said are just not true - not what i said. 
she seems to have just ticked the first box for everything. stating things like 
"evidence in FH show eating something each day, and MSE showing good insight suggests he should be able to take nutrition independently"

"Further restrictions were considered, however SOH is showing motivation to complete PIP2, care for his cat and attend local shop when needed"

where my epilepsy is concerned it says stuff like "LOC was considered, however, HOC showing no diagnosis since 2016" - well yes because i don't go out - i haven't been to a doctor since around 2016 - I'm signed of indefinitely have had no need to get sick notes etc. and i cant cope with leaving the house.

its the same all the way through, and because i was able to complete the form on my own "i don't have anyone else to help me, yes i managed to complete it but it wasn't easy and its taken me a long time to do it", or because i seems to be able to talk ok on the phone, everything I've said seems to have been totally ignored.

there is not a single point in this assessment that i agree with. not one - it doesn't reflect how i live at all in the slightest and now I'm just stressed out , this is half the reason i never bothered to do this in the past.
not sure what to do, I've not had a decision yet, the assessment was only a few days ago. but I'm convinced ill be refused based on the "in my opinion" totally incorrect assessment, i don't have a problem talking to people on the internet - or on the other end of the phone, i don't have any cognitive impairment. but they seem to have taken that as a sign that I'm perfectly fine.


- sorry for the obnoxiously long post, trying to give context.
I'm hoping some other people here are/have been in the same situation
i have no support, no family, no friends..., whenever i try to access support it just seems like they go "well you seem like a bright guy, I'm sure your fine", ignoring the fact that I was with mental health all my childhood life and only fell out of the system after leaving care and ending back with mum - that didn't go well because she had many issues herself and is why she's not with us anymore - this was 8 years ago.
ive been trying to get support ever since and it just never happens nowhere will take me seriously... I'm trying so hard to sort my life out and get back on track . and I'm really struggling. and i dont seem to be able to find any help anywhere, ive got multiple medical issues ive not been dealing with because of mental health reasons, and ive only got worse throughout the last couple of years... the only good things is the move gave me some confidence and a will to keep living instead of just surviving but its really hard. i keep having setbacks. and i really dont know what to do anymore.

poppy123456

You will need to wait for the decision, which can take between 2-12 weeks from when DWP received the report.

Once the decision is made if you're not happy then you can request the Mandatory Reconsideration. (MR) If you need advice regarding this then please post back here once the decision is made.

nasturtium

Hello Jake2195

Sorry to hear you have had a bad assessment. If I was in your situation and I had a report like you have had then I would immediately telephone the DWP and ask to talk to a decision maker and advise them not to make a decision because the assessment report is not accurate and you will be putting in writing in detail and correct all of the inaccuracies on the report. If you do that make sure you say that this in not a mandatory reconsideration and that you reserve the right to a mandatory reconsideration if you are not happy with the decision. If you feel you cannot do this then you will need to wait until the descision letter arrives and then if you are not happy with the descision then you will need to write and request a mandatory reconsideration.

The other option also is to put a formal complaint to the assessment provider and they will take a look at the assessment report. 

Jake2195

I tried to phone PIP today, got on the phone at around 2:30pm - was on hold the entire afternoon when the line cut off and phoning back it said they are now closed.
will try again tomorrow. but honestly, I don't feel that motivated anymore. i think they are just going to tell me to wait for the decision, and I guess that's normal but I don't feel like the information they have is in anyway correct, really i want a new assessment with someone else, my assessment phoncall was 30mins late and only took 40mins most people I've seen here were on phone for nearly 2 hours, i don't know if that really means anything but i don't feel like the questions asked were enough and even after the call i felt like we barely scratched the surface.

poppy123456

The length of time the assessment took doesn't really mean anything other than they had no further questions to ask. Assessments can last anywhere from 20 - 120 minutes, sometimes longer. My shortest assessment in 2016 was about 10 minutes, my longest assessment was just over 1 hour. Awarded successfully both times.

The best time to ring PIP would be as soon as they open, for me they usually answer fairly quickly.

Jake2195

spoke with PIP yesterday, and got put through to someone in senior management or something not sure. but they listened and got me to go through all the things that I disagree with and wrote that down with notes to direct whoever looks at my case to look at that information as well.
I'm not sure about this outcome. - If i disagree then i have still used my MR and wont have another chance as far as i know. they said that i cant "retain my right to an MR" and that i cant ask for the assessment to be redone on the basis of not agreeing with what was said, although the person i spoke to did seem very understanding and i think they could tell i was distressed and struggling with talking to them and i was getting kinda distressed on the phone and unable to keep track of where i was in the paperwork and what id already covered and so on - it was a really difficult phonecall, and I'm not sure i handled it that well but i don't have anyone else to help or speak to about it so i just had to do it. I've no idea what the outcome will be, i just hope they take in the information i have given... 

poppy123456

Jake2195 said:

I'm not sure about this outcome. - If i disagree then i have still used my MR and wont have another chance as far as i know. they said that i cant "retain my right to an MR"

That's not correct. Ringing them at this point would not have been the MR request because you can't ask for that until the decision is made. What you did was ring them to give them more information. Once the decision is made, if you disagree then you can request the MR, which should be put into writing.

For the MR they don't usually do another assessment like they did previously. A decision maker just looks at your claim again, including all the evidence and the report then comes to another decision.

When you rang today, it was likely that you spoke to someone from the call centre and not someone from DWP itself. Take the advice they give you with a pinch of salt.

Jake2195

i was put through to a "case manager" and no I don't mean "this was a MR" I mean they said that I couldn't request another assessment - or even really fight the assessment - all I could do was go through all the parts I didn't agree with and they wrote down "my side of the story" so to say
- the lady I spoke to also said that she was adding something to the system to ensure anyone else looking at my case would be directed to look at the extra information based on our conversation when looking into my case
other than that I'm really not sure tbh

Alex_Alumni

Thanks for explaining @Jake2195 that's really helpful. Do keep us up to date with how things go, and please ask if you have any questions in the meantime.

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Alex