Can I claim back the costs of the report?

poppy123456 said:

I see. It's not their responsibility to prove you qualify for PIP, it's yours unfortunately.

But the DWP clearly point out in all of their notes that you should NOT pay for evidence that isn't already to hand - so I suppose that is their get out of clause - you were told not to pay.

So poor old Andyac was left in a dilemma. His neuro evidence from 2009 was classified by the DWP as far to old to be relied on as being relevant today - thus the comments from the DWP on their notes saying that nothing over 2 years old should be sent in.

Between the preverbal rock and a hard place is our poor Andyac. So what does he have to do to show the DWP that the 2009 evidence is in fact reliable - he asks the consultant to supply an updated version at a cost of £500.

He has no other choice - but the DWP say that he should not obtain any evidence that he has to pay for. If he does it is down to him.

Maybe he should have insisted that the DWP get it?

No answer to this.

 

debbiedo49 said:

@Andyac did you know it would be 500 pounds at the time? Did you know about the rules about paying for stuff like that? I certainly couldn’t afford to pay that. I struggled to pay thirty pounds to my g p for his letter.  That’s awful

Andyac's problem was that he had no up to date evidence (or up to date enough for the DWP to accept). He had no choice no matter what the cost would have been - if he wanted PIP he had to pay the £500 - don't get the evidence - no PIP!

debbiedo49 said:

Its a lot of money 

I must agree it is just for one report. Mind you I have spent more than that when challenging an ESA decision in 2009. I had to get copies of all my files from 5 different hospitals up and down the country - the total cost came to more than £500.