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7 month trying to sort out pip

Charli
Charli Community member Posts: 51 Courageous
ive been trying to sort pip out for my husband since February after he had to apply as DLA was ending. Had an appointment for face to face assessment which he couldn’t attend explained why they accepted the reason and I asked for a home visit, they sent another appointment after numerous visits to citizens advice atos said they wouldn’t do a home visit due to my husbands mental health they said it wasn’t safe for them to come to our home, but it was safe to send him to an unfamiliar environment with added stress, they stopped his DLA in June saying he wasn’t entitled to pip we asked for a mandatory reconsideration which we won, anyway citizens advice finally got them to do a paper assessment, with information from his mental health professionals, I had a phone call on the 6th and 7th August off the atos assessor to ask a few questions and wish me well, so now it’s a case of wait and see, I’ve asked for a copy of the assessment report which DWP has said they’ll send, I was just wondering has anyone else been through this kind of headache trying to apply for pip for a loved one or am I just one of the lucky ones lol seriously though I hope my story isn’t the norm as it’s been horrendous 

Comments

  • Yadnad
    Yadnad Posts: 2,856 Disability Gamechanger
    Charli said:
    ive been trying to sort pip out for my husband since February after he had to apply as DLA was ending. Had an appointment for face to face assessment which he couldn’t attend explained why they accepted the reason and I asked for a home visit, they sent another appointment after numerous visits to citizens advice atos said they wouldn’t do a home visit due to my husbands mental health they said it wasn’t safe for them to come to our home, but it was safe to send him to an unfamiliar environment with added stress, they stopped his DLA in June saying he wasn’t entitled to pip we asked for a mandatory reconsideration which we won, anyway citizens advice finally got them to do a paper assessment, with information from his mental health professionals, I had a phone call on the 6th and 7th August off the atos assessor to ask a few questions and wish me well, so now it’s a case of wait and see, I’ve asked for a copy of the assessment report which DWP has said they’ll send, I was just wondering has anyone else been through this kind of headache trying to apply for pip for a loved one or am I just one of the lucky ones lol seriously though I hope my story isn’t the norm as it’s been horrendous 
    In one way or another, 1,000's of other claimants have had similar and sometimes worse in their dealings with PIP.
    It's par for the course I am afraid. However you do seem to be at the end of it all, so a few more weeks may well give the relief you need.
  • Charli
    Charli Community member Posts: 51 Courageous
    I hope so but I really am not holding out much hope in fact I already have the mindset that I’ll end up having to appeal, if I don’t it’ll be great as it’ll be finally over with 
  • Yadnad
    Yadnad Posts: 2,856 Disability Gamechanger
    Charli said:
    I hope so but I really am not holding out much hope in fact I already have the mindset that I’ll end up having to appeal, if I don’t it’ll be great as it’ll be finally over with 
    Always - plan for the worst and hope for the best.
  • debbiedo49
    debbiedo49 Community member Posts: 2,904 Disability Gamechanger
  • Charli
    Charli Community member Posts: 51 Courageous
    Just received the assessment report from DWP in the post I don’t want to be optimistic but it really did cover all my husbands problems really well, do the dms take the assessment report  seriously when making a decision or can they just discount it, it’s only been two weeks since DWP got the report so I know there’s still a while to go before a decision I’ll let you know when I hear anything good luck to all in this situation 
  • poppy123456
    poppy123456 Community member Posts: 53,365 Disability Gamechanger
    Somewhere in that report there will be boxes with dots or ticks, you need to use the PIP descriptors against that to see what you scored. It's rare for them to go against the recommendations in the report but it has been known. Good luck.
    I would appreciate it if members wouldn't tag me please. I have all notifcations turned off and wouldn't want a member thinking i'm being rude by not replying.
    If i see a question that i know the answer to i will try my best to help.
  • Charli
    Charli Community member Posts: 51 Courageous
    Thanks poppy123456 I read the report again found the dots and worked out the scores he seems to have scored well, he had a paper assessment but a lady from atos phoned three times in two days to ask questions and to say she’d finished her report, she was really nice, I feel lucky to have dealt with her as her report was pretty thorough
  • Yadnad
    Yadnad Posts: 2,856 Disability Gamechanger
    Charli said:
    Thanks poppy123456 I read the report again found the dots and worked out the scores he seems to have scored well, he had a paper assessment but a lady from atos phoned three times in two days to ask questions and to say she’d finished her report, she was really nice, I feel lucky to have dealt with her as her report was pretty thorough
    Not that many like her then.
  • Charli
    Charli Community member Posts: 51 Courageous
    After all the stories I’ve read on here I feel really lucky to have dealt with someone who genuinely wanted to help
  • Yadnad
    Yadnad Posts: 2,856 Disability Gamechanger
    Charli said:
    After all the stories I’ve read on here I feel really lucky to have dealt with someone who genuinely wanted to help
    Yes there are some around that take responsibility for the work. It used to be common within the Civil Service to give that type of service. Now it seems that the opposite applies. 
    Gone have the years when I used to sign my letters as " your obedient servant"
  • Charli
    Charli Community member Posts: 51 Courageous
     Not surprised morale so low in public sector to many staff cuts, performance reviews etc read an article about a DWP call handler they have 23 mind max to deal with each phone call if they go over that they are sent for a review if it’s repeated they can be sacked she said she felt like she failed every caller as she had a script that she had to stick to word for word no wonder they sound like they don’t care they haven’t the time 
  • Yadnad
    Yadnad Posts: 2,856 Disability Gamechanger
    Charli said:
     Not surprised morale so low in public sector to many staff cuts, performance reviews etc read an article about a DWP call handler they have 23 mind max to deal with each phone call if they go over that they are sent for a review if it’s repeated they can be sacked she said she felt like she failed every caller as she had a script that she had to stick to word for word no wonder they sound like they don’t care they haven’t the time 
    Call handlers - who are they?

    It's not that many years ago that on any letter that I sent out it had to have the telephone number and my extension as well as my official e mail address on the headed paper.
    Any case that I was working on meant that anybody involved in it was able to communicate with me direct.
  • Charli
    Charli Community member Posts: 51 Courageous
    That never seems to happen now I suppose it’s so you can’t say that such and such said, they would probably deny it anyway
  • Charli
    Charli Community member Posts: 51 Courageous
    Hi thought I’d give an update on my husbands pip claim, a brown envelope dropped through the door at 9:30, automatically thought the worst but ended up being really surprised, his claim was successful,  he has a 3yr award which is double what was recommended, thank you all so much for your brilliant advice, you’ve kept me sane, talk to you all soon
  • susan48
    susan48 Community member Posts: 2,221 Disability Gamechanger
    @Charli that’s grwat news 
  • Charli
    Charli Community member Posts: 51 Courageous
     Hi susan48 thanks for the message, I’m so shocked, really happy it’s over, well for the next 2 yrs till the review period, it’ll help but I’m still isolated as I’m with my husband 24/7 so I don’t really have a life, I’m really pleased I found this site as everyone is so kind and helpful I’ll definitely be keeping in touch as it’s lovely to talk to someone else as I’m not on any other social media
  • susan48
    susan48 Community member Posts: 2,221 Disability Gamechanger
    @Charli, I understand the isolation, me too.
    just enjoy the award for now and think about the review nearer the time, I’m good at giving advice but not listening to my own, lol.
    This is a good site, not sure if you seen the word association thread, it’s a bit of fun if you want to join in. 
    Im not on social media either, I was but deleted it as it’s not good for my mental health.
    As you’v got some experience of the pip process then I’m sure you’d be good a advising and supporting others 
  • Yadnad
    Yadnad Posts: 2,856 Disability Gamechanger
    Charli said:
     really surprised, his claim was successful,  he has a 3yr award which is double what was recommended
    He will be assessed again after 2 years.

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