Changing from DLA to PIP

This is not totally true, the majority of claims are succesful first time, we just don't hear about them

I disagree, sorry. The majority of claims are not refused first time. Lots of people claim PIP successfully first time without any problems at all. I was one of them and so was my daughter and we didn't previously claim DLA either. My daughter has recently had her first review which was a paper based assessment.

As @CockneyRebel has said, we only ever hear the bad stories. If someone has had a decision they're happy with then we don't hear their story.

ESA and PIP are totally different benefits. People work and claim PIP. ESA is for those with a limited capability for work.

Roddy said:

That's very true. There shouldn't be ANY bad stories though as the decisions made by some of the DWP people have a major detrimental effect on the health & wellbeing of disabled people. Sure, people make mistakes and no system can be 100% but ever since f2f assessments hit the scene thousands of people have been affected. Even more so for ESA/Universal Credit.  

One of my arguments is that PIP is not affected by other benefits as such. However, to qualify for PIP you have to be quite ill or disabled, and the process involved is concise. It is only correct therefore that other entitlements should be far less problematic, but PIP is not even taken into account at many of these other assessments. How can one possibly be entitled to PIP and yet stripped of ESA? 

I totally agree. Yes they are different benefits but surely if a person has been acknowledged by the PIP team as having care needs for a disability then they shouldn't have their ESA stripped on the basis that some people who get PIP are able to work. Similarly if assessed by ESA as being unable to work due to a disability then surely it follows that an award of PIP should be automatic on that basis. I heard a whisper this week that DWP are looking at merging the ESA and PIP tests into one. If so it's about time.

5imply_Ted said:

Roddy said:

That's very true. There shouldn't be ANY bad stories though as the decisions made by some of the DWP people have a major detrimental effect on the health & wellbeing of disabled people. Sure, people make mistakes and no system can be 100% but ever since f2f assessments hit the scene thousands of people have been affected. Even more so for ESA/Universal Credit.  

One of my arguments is that PIP is not affected by other benefits as such. However, to qualify for PIP you have to be quite ill or disabled, and the process involved is concise. It is only correct therefore that other entitlements should be far less problematic, but PIP is not even taken into account at many of these other assessments. How can one possibly be entitled to PIP and yet stripped of ESA? 

I totally agree. Yes they are different benefits but surely if a person has been acknowledged by the PIP team as having care needs for a disability then they shouldn't have their ESA stripped on the basis that some people who get PIP are able to work. Similarly if assessed by ESA as being unable to work due to a disability then surely it follows that an award of PIP should be automatic on that basis. I heard a whisper this week that DWP are looking at merging the ESA and PIP tests into one. If so it's about time.

@5im@5imply_Ted
My point exactly. It would save everybody (including the DWP) time money and expense if only both departments would liaise with each other. After all, both of them require more or less the same information and if it's OK with one department, then it surely must be the same for the other. 

Even our Dr's & Hospital Specialists have better things to do than to keep writing out the same reports time and time again for the DWP, and heaven knows how much money is being wasted on totally unnecessary Assessments. I had THREE in the space of 4 months and all were exactly the same. My illnesses & disabilities have not changed in 4 years let alone 4 months and I'll still be no different in another 4 months or years. 

They suggested that we are all assessed and means tested as individuals, but it's clearly not the case. They just look at their 'points system' and that's just about it. They have the answers in front of them, tried and tested by one department, and so another load of jargon & timewasting isn't necessary at all. 

It could be worse... The DWP could be running the NHS and then all of us may as well go to The Moon!  

Hi @Roddy you're right of course. My point was only that the less that disabled claimants are repetitively assessed for the same condition by different branches of the DWP the better for the health of the claimants and the less wasted resources by the department. Especially when the claimants have long term conditions which remain largely unchanged - something that could easily be established by regular communication with the claimant's health care providers.

wildlife said:

I'm 68 and moved from DLA to PIP in 2017. Had a dishonest assessor who lied over and over again on my report. I am due for review in 10 months time. If I'd been assessed properly and given a life long time scale a lot of money and damage to my health could have been saved. Multiply that by all the other people treated as I was and the money they're trying to save by denying benefit to genuine claimants could have been saved anyway. Not to mention the cost to the NHS of people being made more ill or disabled by the current system. 

@wildlife

I couldn't agree more. The DWP have not only had a detrimental affect on those that they are meant to serve, they have turned everything into a costly difficulty for themselves in the process. The word "lies" is an understatement when it comes to most of these so-called 'assessors.'  They are at the best, incompetent and should never be allowed to make decisions other than changing their careers. Any organization is only as good as it's worse person, and there are many disgraceful people working on behalf of the DWP and their offices. 

Even more disturbing and worrying, is that nobody of authority or within our government gives a jack. Many thousands of very sick and/or disabled people cannot all be wrong, and neither can our hospital specialists, consultants and GP's who in some cases have known us for year after year or since birth. 

The DWP seem to think that by denying all people will save money, and that only the able will fight for justice, but we are not able, are we. The fight that they've dealt us is almost an endless battle and there are many who simply give up and cannot cope with the stress and the pain of it all, on top of everything else that we have to cope with. It's a total disgrace. 

Sure, we only ever hear about the bad cases, but look how many there are! And from this site alone it is more than just obvious there are more bad cases, very bad cases, then right ones.