PIP assessment disabled Appointee — Scope | Disability forum
Please read our updated community house rules and community guidelines.

PIP assessment disabled Appointee

jan777
jan777 Community member Posts: 6 Listener
edited March 2019 in PIP, DLA, and AA

Hi I have been my Daughters Appointee for 9 yrs. My Daughter suffers with Bipolar 1 , Emotionally unstable Borderline Personality Disorder,Frontal Lobe Syndrome,Dysphoric mentsrual Disorder , Asthma, Duspraxia , Panic,Anxiety Disorder,Depression and self harms plus numerous other problems.

I also have numerous health issues, depression,panic disorder,agoraphobia..osteoarthritis,two unstable knees due to meniscus tears ,rheumatoid arthritis,loss of hearing in one ear plus numerous other issues.

My Daughters PIP was awarded at tribunal at both high rates. She was on DLA since 9 yrs old , both high rates. Her PIP assessment began in August last year with a view to it ending in Jan 2019. I have had over 30 appointments at assessment centres in the last 5-6 months.

Each time I have explained as her Appointee I cannot attend due to my own health issues. I repeatedly sent medical evidence to support my problem. We continually requested a home visit as we have previously had but constantly got mixed messages either on the phone or by letter... Saying, a paper based report was being done or more assessment centre appointments.

I was told I was unfit and unsuitable to be her Appointee and was preventing her attending the assessment centres. I was reported and received a letter saying I was to be investigated as suitable to continue being her Appointee. The day before the appointment, they contacted me and apologised profusely as they had no issues with me being my Daughters Appointee and couldn’t understand why I had been reported to them.

My problem now is that her PIP has been stopped due to the award ending in January even though they still sent out assessment centre appointments until February...  The assessment provider has agreed to send a assessor to do a home visit after my MP intervened but the DWP are insisting she make a fresh claim which is unfair due to my disability she was never allowed to be reassessed and her award renewed!

Any advice will be sincerely appreciated  Thanks Jan - 

Comments

  • poppy123456
    poppy123456 Community member Posts: 53,345 Disability Gamechanger
    Hi,

    As your daughter was awarded by a Tribunal i'm surprised her review began in August last year. Usually these awards aren't reviewed, DWP usually contact you 14 weeks before the award is due to end. Only awards given by DWP are reviewed a year before they end.

    There's always a chance that an award can end before a decision's been made when it's awarded by a Tribunal.

    Were you sent the AR1 review form or PIP2 form last year?

    As a decision wasn't made by the time the award ended then if she's awarded this time it should be backdated to the date it stopped. Having said all that, all awards should be treated as new claims by the claimant/appointee anyway.

    It's not clear in your post whether they want to send you more PIP2 forms?
    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.
  • Sam_Alumni
    Sam_Alumni Scope alumni Posts: 7,671 Disability Gamechanger
    Hi @jan777
    I have asked the @BenefitsTrainingCo to take a look at your post :)
    Scope
    Senior online community officer
  • jan777
    jan777 Community member Posts: 6 Listener
    Hi
    My daughter was awarded at a tribunal from January 2016 to January 2019.
    Yes I filled in and returned the AR1 last August . From October 2018 we have had over 30 different appointments for assessment centres and each appointment letter tends to follow with a letter crossing in the post but dated the same day , saying they are hoping to do a paper based report.
    That is then followed by a further letter saying they can’t do a paper based report and need a face to face and that we should wait for a new assessment centre appointment.
    Then the entire charade begins again!
    I was informed by letter dated 22nd February that her PIP award had ended on January 10th ?
    I received 2 further letters in the same post on the same day dated the same date 22/2 ... One saying they were doing a paper based report and the other saying they can’t do a paper based report and we would be offered the next available face to face assessment in a centre ???
    All 3 letters were dated the same day.
    I had difficulty getting her medical records but eventually received them after 2 SARS requests, so I’ve forwarded everything I’ve got to them and hope they will consider the fact that it has not been fair on my Daughter that the assessment couldn’t be carried out without me present .
    Thanks
    Jan
  • poppy123456
    poppy123456 Community member Posts: 53,345 Disability Gamechanger
    I think it could be a catch 22 here. You're asking for a home assessment because you can't attend the health assessment centre because of your health but it's your daughters PIP claim, even though you're her appointee it's still her PIP claim. In this situation i'm not sure what to advise.

    The reason why her PIP stopped was because she was awarded by a Tribunal and her award had an end date. As the decision wasn't made by that date then it stopped. I'm surprised you were contacted so early because those awarded by a Tribunal are contacted 14 weeks before the award is due to end and they don't receive AR1 forms, it's PIP2 forms.

    Whether they decide you need to re-apply or not if her award is successful once a decision's been made then she should be backdated to the date it stopped.

    I would definitely get advice from your local CAB, welfare rights or law centre. 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.
  • jan777
    jan777 Community member Posts: 6 Listener
    Hi
    I thought I’d update the situation.
    After I requested the access to my daughters information from the DWP so the amount of confusing conflicting advice that had been given would be evident, I now understand why a home visit to my home(Appointee) for my daughters assesment was refused.
    There is information in the Atos paperwork stating ‘I am aggressive’ which is a complete lie as I’ve only ever been polite even when I’ve been tested beyond patience.
    The root of the issue derived from their internal notes regarding the Home Visit to assess my suitability as Appointee as I was told I was ‘unfit and unsuitable due to my own disabilities preventing her attending an assessment centre as such I was to be removed as my daughters Appointee.’
    The home visit NEVER took place , the Lady who was supposed to visit never came as she had called me 3 days earlier to explain she had cancelled the home visit after reading the files she decided she had no reason to question my suitability.
    I called her recently after receiving the access  files to ask if she had made a report about attending my home ‘as she knew that didn’t happen’ .
    She was as confused as I was why and how this report was included in my daughters files.
    She was adamant she had no knowledge of any such report and most definitely had never made any comments whatsoever that I had been aggressive over the phone let alone during a home visit that never took place !!!
    She has promised to get back to me when she can get to the bottom of why such a lie is written in the DWP/ Atos files.
    Anyway , I recently received a call from a lovely Lady from the DWP who has arranged for my daughter to be allowed to attend an assessment centre with a chaperone rather than insisting I attend as her Appointee.

    My daughter has been diagnosed with many difficulties since the age of 3 yrs old ,all of which are well documented in the reports the DWP have.
    Frontal lobe syndrome, bipolar , emotionally unstable personality disorder, dyspraxia , dysphoric menstrual syndrome , bulimia, self harms etc etc and because she attended her CPA review last March and told them she was fine, she was discharged back to her GP and the PIP /Atos decided there’s insufficient evidence to make a decision so a paper based assessment is refused.

    She was promised a costa coffee the day of her mental health review which encouraged her to go to the appointment or she wouldn’t have gone ... She told them everything was fine in order to get out as quickly as possible and get the Costa coffee!!!
    She was awarded both enhanced awards last time at her appeal .
    The Judges made the award after speaking to her alone in the tribunal.
    Her assessment is in 2 weeks so I’ll come back then and update on how she got on.

  • Chloe_Scope
    Chloe_Scope Posts: 10,586 Disability Gamechanger
    Hi @jan777 and thank you very much for updating us about this! I am sorry to hear wrong things had been documented about you- but I am glad they got there in the end. It must be such a hard process for you to go through again, how are you feeling? I wish you both the very best of luck with her assessment in a few weeks :)
    Scope

Brightness

Do you need advice on your energy costs?


Scope’s Disability Energy Support service is open to any disabled household in England or Wales in which one or more disabled people live. You can get free advice from an expert adviser on managing energy debt, switching tariffs, contacting your supplier and more. Find out more information by visiting our
Disability Energy Support webpage.