Pip and chronic lymphocytic leukaemia

@Henny5

I really appreciate how difficult this is for you and how gruelling and draining the treatment can be.

I live with MDS myself and have successfully claimed enhanced PIP for both daily living and mobility, with a ten‑year award. That shows the system does recognise how serious blood disorders are in terms of everyday functioning. PIP isn’t awarded for the diagnosis itself, but for how your illness affects daily life.

Instead of just saying “I have CLL,” you need to explain the impact. For example, whether fatigue or infection risk stop you from preparing food safely, since foods often need to be cooked at high temperatures to kill bacteria, this can be difficult when your immune system is compromised. If exhaustion means you risk falling asleep while cooking, that is also important to highlight as it shows the safety issues you face.

Chopping and preparing food can be dangerous if you have low platelets, as even small cuts could lead to severe bleeding. You might need to follow a special diet to reduce infection risk, take nutritional supplements, or rely on others to help you remember and manage medication.

You can also describe how being unwell most of the time limits social contact, how brain fog or fatigue affects concentration and managing finances, and how mobility is restricted. Planning journeys may be difficult because of infection risk, meaning you are not able to use public transport, and fatigue or weakness can limit walking distances.

Letters from your oncology team about the impact of chemo and CLL, for example severe fatigue or immune suppression, can strengthen your case.

It often isn’t until you sit down and think clearly about how your life has changed since diagnosis that you realise just how debilitating and life- restricting living with blood cancer can be. Fatigue, infection risk, and the constant adjustments to everyday tasks all add up, and it’s those details that make the difference when you’re setting out your claim.

I know a few people undergoing treatment who also receive PIP, and some have phoned Macmillan support who helped them fill in the forms, which they found really useful. The better you can explain how your condition affects your daily life, the more chance of success you have.