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Hi everyone - can I please say a few things. I hope you know I have everyone's best interests at heart, & now more than ever nothing should divide us.

About PIP assessors not having medical knowledge - well they're not Drs, but they're called Healthcare Professionals for a reason; most are nurses, with some physios & paramedics. As a physio much of my studies were at the same level as a medical student (apart from pathology), & we were perhaps fortunate in also having the same lectures on neuroanatomy & neurophysiology given by Drs as they did.

However, as I've said before on the forum, even if you had assessments done by Drs, then they can't possibly know everything. I know I've had the better of more than one consultant, but that's because I feel I know an awful lot about one tiny 'bit' of medical knowledge.

Even with the consultants you see, they may be at the top of their pinnacle in their specialised understanding, but may fail to see the significance if you have something else going on, which was why I used to wish I could get several consultants all talking to each other in the same room about our family's disorder! I'm sure many of you might have felt the same.

About assessors 'lying,' I have no wish to upset anyone, but this is not my personal experience, tho I could mutter about my PIP decision letter which kept repeating that I didn't see a 'physio specialist!' No, this is what I learnt from a Welfare Rights Officer (who helped thousands of people with benefit tribunals, as well as an awful lot of our members some time ago). He said that you can't say that an assessor has lied, because you have no way of proving their intent. Assessors listen to what you say, then they're there to give their opinion (as far as the PIP 'tick box exercise' will allow them to do). He knew, as do many of us, that assessor's get things wrong, but legally, we can't 'prove' they lie.

We have many members join the forum because they've had difficulty with PIP, UC & other benefits. Altho there's lots of info on the internet, it's knowing where to look in the first place. This is always something that I hope this forum can often do in trying to give clear guidance, with links whenever possible, to help members with their benefit queries in the best way possible. Like @michael57 - I hope I look at both sides of things too, & I don't think his view was negative.

Now @Merlin64 has just joined & has received a PIP form different to one they've received before. It may have been unfortunate to say that this was 'aimed at the most severely disabled,' but how were they supposed to know? I gave a link to the review form which just came out in Nov last year, tho I don't know if that's what they received as we've only had a few members mention they got one like this comparitively recently when reviewed. We however know that any proposed changes to PIP won't happen until 2026. They joined being concerned that they may lose their PIP, so thinking about that here's my last comment:

Most important in this forum is the support we offer one another. We're all a bit frazzled at the moment, but let's hold onto that support. 'United we stand….'

P.S. My son's Bedlington terrier thinks he's the best dog @Ranald - he's a true 'hang dawg' as he likes to lie on the sofa, or on me, with his head hanging down!