Has my PIP advisor messed up my claim?

Saffy · June 2019

I'm moving from DLA to PIP. I contacted a Disability Support Centre for help with form filling. He didn't ask about how my fibromyalgia affected me, in fact he didn't seem to ask much generally.
When I commented on it he said he filled in loads of these forms every day and he was just giving them the necessary as they never read them anyway. He posted the form for me and gave me a copy and said I'd probably go for a face to face assessment.
Now I have looked at the copy and am scared he may have messed it up for me as the info he has written is very brief and in no way gives the amount of detail requested.
Do you think I need to worry? The help centre was recommended to me by a friend so I had no reason not to trust him.

Davegreaser70 · June 2019

Hi. I had a P.I.P assessment in Nov last year. It was a face to face, as I had refused to go on P.I.P for years. The staff are friendly, they will ask about what you CAN do, not what you CAN'T do. The assessor will have your medical details, but being brief on the form is unusual. They DO read the forms, and when you go, they will ask questions like can you prepare a simple meal? If you cannot do that, SAY SO! If you eat microwave meals SAY SO! It takes about 6 weeks to get a result, but if you are turned down, appeal, but put down as MUCH as possible on the form. Remember YOU know how you cope. THEY DO NOT! Hope this helps. You will be fine!

Chloe_Scope · June 2019

Hi @saffy and a very warm welcome to the community! Have you sent the form off yet? It may be worth adding more information if you believe this is lacking. I will move your post to the PIP board and see what suggestions other members have

If you need anything else at all then please do be in touch!

cristobal · June 2019

@saffy - I think I'd be worried if I'd asked for advice, and the form was completed on the basis of "no-one ever reads it!"

Was there a reason why you didn't fill the form in yourself? I think the best person to say how your condition affects you is you, but that's just my opinion - I know there are others on here who disagree...

Let us know what happens...

[Deleted User] · June 2019

Omg, sounds like what happened to me! I asked Welfare Rights, he didn't ask me for 2 - 3 examples of anything and the attitude was it's a review.. but I've read you put 2 - 3 examples regards of it being a review or not. So when I got my report back one of the things the assessor used as an excuse was my form which he knew I didn't fill in, I then asked Welfare Rights for a copy and was a little bit annoyed, I emailed them about it and explained what info I'd found on the net etc. and he still wouldn't listen. I understand they have a lot of people to help but not filling the form in properly and thinking the assessor "will ask the right questions" is a tad mind boggling, same as the evidence, they said "It's only really needed for an MR or tribunal"... *sigh*. I gave what evidence I had anyway.

Saffy · June 2019

Chloe_Scope said:

Hi @saffy and a very warm welcome to the community! Have you sent the form off yet? It may be worth adding more information if you believe this is lacking. I will move your post to the PIP board and see what suggestions other members have

If you need anything else at all then please do be in touch!

Yes the Disability advisor sent it off for me. I've had a text to say they received it. So I can't add anything to it now.

Saffy · June 2019

cristobal said:

@saffy - I think I'd be worried if I'd asked for advice, and the form was completed on the basis of "no-one ever reads it!"

Was there a reason why you didn't fill the form in yourself? I think the best person to say how your condition affects you is you, but that's just my opinion - I know there are others on here who disagree...

Let us know what happens...

I've been on DLA for years and had the highest rates for both care and mobility.
I got knocked off my scooter a few weeks ago and have been in a lot of pain since with head and neck pain.
I also recently had a cataract operation and my vision hasn't been very good since so I needed help with the form filling, especially as I didn't really understand what was wanted from me the way some questions were phrased. My fibromyalgia makes me woolly headed and I can't speak clearly sometimes. I was given the advice centre details by a friend who used them previously and said how good they were.
I'm really worried that I've lost my chance to put my case forward properly, and going by what I've heard, the assessors are not really interested in doing their best for you.
I'm stressed out normally so you can imagine what this is doing to me

Saffy · June 2019

Thanks for all the replies. I'm not sure if I'm posting replies properly as I can't seem to find 'reply' and am just using 'quote'.
Can someone tell me how to post replies properly please?

poppy123456 · June 2019

Saffy said:

Thanks for all the replies. I'm not sure if I'm posting replies properly as I can't seem to find 'reply' and am just using 'quote'.
Can someone tell me how to post replies properly please?

Hi,

You're posting fine. You can quote someone's comment if you want to but you don't have to.

Saffy · June 2019

poppy123456 said:

Saffy said:

Thanks for all the replies. I'm not sure if I'm posting replies properly as I can't seem to find 'reply' and am just using 'quote'.
Can someone tell me how to post replies properly please?

Hi,

You're posting fine. You can quote someone's comment if you want to but you don't have to.

Thanks. Can you explain the flag icon please?

poppy123456 · June 2019

The flag is for reporting a comment if you see something you don't like.

Saffy · June 2019

And the little gold star top right?

[Deleted User] · June 2019

The gold star is so you can bookmark a thread so you can find it again

Saffy · June 2019

I seem to spend every waking moment worrying about whether my pip advisor has caused massive problems for me.
The form was very poorly filled in by him and I don't know what to do. Could he, as a professional, have made things worse for me, or am I worrying unnecessarily?
Will I just have to wait now until I get called for a face to face?

KG100 · June 2019

You can always explain what happened when you have the assessment interview.
I had mine this week and had to tell them about having to add anaemia to my medical condition list.
I was only told I had that last week.
She was quite happy about adding it to my other problems.

[Deleted User] · June 2019

Yeah, hopefully your assessor will be do their job properly like the first one I had did.

cristobal · June 2019

@safyy - try not to worry - you can't change anything now.

If you have to go for a F2F then prepare to give some examples of how your condition affects you.

poppy123456 · June 2019

When i first claimed PIP for my daughter i had help filling out the forms and like yours hers was filled out so badly. Hardly any information was put down and i didn't even get to have a copy of the form before they left my house. I was also told that they would post them for me. Yes, i was very worried but there was nothing i could do about it at that point.

I gave the adviser all the evidence i had, which was quite a lot from the community learning disability team and a few other consultants. All i could do was wait and hope. I did ask for a home assessment which was added to the form. Spent weeks worrying because of it. less than 2 weeks after returning the forms i was sent an appointment for a home assessment. That took place and because i'm her appointee i answered all the questions on her behalf.

The decision took just over 6 weeks because the report was sent to audit but she was awarded Enhanced for both.

Fast forward a year to her review and this time i wasn't taken any chances so decided to fill out the forms myself. I added 2 real life examples for each descriptor that applied to her. Sent a small amount of extra evidence which proved exactly how her conditions affect her.

I did wait a long time for a decision but thanks to my form filling she had a paper based assessment and the decision remained the same. So, yes putting as much information as possible definitely helped but luckily for her the first time because of the evidence i sent it didn't matter.

I've learnt my lesson now and will never ask anyone for help filling out any form because we are the only people that know how our conditions affect us, no one else. She's my daughter so i know exactly how she's affected.

Hopefully the lack of information on the form won't make any difference to you. Good luck.

cristobal · June 2019

poppy123456 said:

"I've learnt my lesson now and will never ask anyone for help filling out any form because we are the only people that know how our conditions affect us, no one else"

I agree ....also one of the reasons why people sometimes get help filling a form in seems to be that an adviser 'knows what to write'.

This may, or may not be the case, but the problem is that when you have a F2F interview they'll be asking about what is effectively someone else's application!!

poppy123456 · June 2019

Very often i hear people say "i don't know the exact wording to use" there's no exact wording, just write it how it is.

Saffy · June 2019

poppy123456 said:

Very often i hear people say "i don't know the exact wording to use" there's no exact wording, just write it how it is.

That was one of the reasons I wanted help, because I get so jumbled in my head I can't think straight. And trying to explain how I feel is so difficult. I can actually hear myself not making sense and that make it worse. I've even been accused of being drunk!!

Saffy · June 2019

@poppy123456
I'm really glad you got everything sorted for your daughter. It's bad enough when you're trying to do your best for yourself, but it's so much more important to get it right for those you care about.

Saffy · June 2019

cristobal said:

@safyy - try not to worry - you can't change anything now.

If you have to go for a F2F then prepare to give some examples of how your condition affects you.

Thanks, I think that's a good idea. I can try and make a note in pencil on the copy the advisor made for me, and say what difficulties I had doing those things like bathing etc.
The one thing I'm really angry about is that I have a real problem with using the toilet. I told him it was a huge problem for me and affected my being able to go out. I was expecting him to write loads about that but he's virtually ignored me.
Do you think they will accept the additional info at a f2f if I explain my advisor let me down.

CockneyRebel · June 2019

If I may make a suggestion, Send a copy of any further relevant information asap. Copies to DWP and assessment provider, you might be lucky and have it accepted before your f2f. Always keeps copies of anything you submit

cristobal · June 2019

@saffy - personally I don't believe that there's any need to 'write loads' just give a couple of examples of what you have difficulty and why. As @cockneyrebel says you are best sending the info in beforehand - I gave the assessor some additional stuff and she never read it.

I found it helpful to look at the PIP descriptors so that I knew exactly what I was applying for.

There are some 'anomalies' such as Preparing Food - which doesn't include using an oven and, if I remember correctly, bathing doesn't consider drying yourself. So don't bother with these!

Bear in mind also that you have to be able to do anything 'reliably' - which means safely, repeatably, in a reasonable time, and to an acceptable standard.

Search DWP PIP assessment guidelines...

Good luck..

Pipquestions2 · June 2019

ilovecats said:

cristobal said:

poppy123456 said:

"I've learnt my lesson now and will never ask anyone for help filling out any form because we are the only people that know how our conditions affect us, no one else"

I agree ....also one of the reasons why people sometimes get help filling a form in seems to be that an adviser 'knows what to write'.

This may, or may not be the case, but the problem is that when you have a F2F interview they'll be asking about what is effectively someone else's application!!

This often manifests as the claimant not knowing what areas they have claimed restrictions in and it stand out a mile when assessing

Do you think that's why so many people have to go to appeal also?

This forum ( @poppy123456 especially) helped a lot for me and now when I have to fill my review form and next ESA medical form out I'll have an idea of what to write whereas before I sent them back almost blank. The content in my Mr/appeal compares to my original form was night and day thanks to this forum, if only I had known about it in the first place.

As poppy said the best person that can explain your disability is yourself or someone that sees you often and can see the difficulties you have.

The hard part is understanding the descriptors imo, because they're so cut clear but at the same time they're vague as to what they actually mean.

For ESA I have always just sent my form back almost blank, the assessor always comments on how little is wrote on it. However after face to face I've always been kept on in the support group, generally for 3 years. My problems are very noticeable when seeing me in person and because of this I never really looked into it further, the assessors done their job fine as far as I was concerned and I had no reason to look into it.

For PIP I assumed it would be the same as ESA hence sending my original form back with next to nothing. But that was a mistake so I turned to Google and found scope in a quest to find out more information because I didn't think my report was accurate and thanks to poppy and others I have some understanding of the descriptors and on review i will be able to explain my problems better in ways that satisfy the descriptors and hopefully won't have to go to appeal.

poppy123456 · June 2019

@Pipquestions2,

It was my pleasure to help you and i'm very happy you got the right decision!!

You mention the descriptors and hit the nail on the head. So many people don't understand what they mean. They look at them and think "ah yes, i can't do that" and think they should score points for that activity or they should score highly for a descriptor. When infact, they may not be able to score as high as they think they can score, if they understood it properly.

I've said this before but i'll say it again, the PIP self test is the worst thing ever because it gives a false impression of what someone "could" score, for those that don't understand what the descriptors mean.

You can have a disability and not be entitled to PIP because if you don't meet the descriptors you won't score the points for an award.

For those reading this, have a look at this guide https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/personal-independence-payment-assessment-guide-for-assessment-providers/pip-assessment-guide-part-2-the-assessment-criteria

I know there's a lot to read but it's definitely worth reading.

[Deleted User] · June 2019

It's nice to have knowledgeable people like Poppy, Mike and CR. I know that I can ask a question on here and one of those three people will answer it honestly and correctly.

mikehughescq · June 2019

Thank you for the kind words.

Saffy · August 2019

I've got a home f2f next week. As expected, my fibro has gone into overdrive at the prospect and I'm sure I will be like a rag doll when the assessor visits. How on earth am I going to cope if I'm like this, I just can't afford to annoy her/him if I seem unable to talk sensibly. I haven't got anyone to ask to be with me.
Do you think it would be ok to give them some extra A4 sheets I filled in with more complete answers to the pip form questions? My benefits advisor wrote very scant answers when he 'helped' me with the form and I don't feel he represented me very well and wrote misleading answers.

poppy123456 · August 2019

You can try handing in the A4 sheets but whether they'll be accepted or not is an entirely different matter. Sometimes they refuse to accept anything on the day, especially with home assessments.

Just do the best you can, is really all i can advise. Do be aware though that you'll be watched from the minute they arrive.

Good luck.

April2018mom · August 2019

Saffy said:

I've got a home f2f next week. As expected, my fibro has gone into overdrive at the prospect and I'm sure I will be like a rag doll when the assessor visits. How on earth am I going to cope if I'm like this, I just can't afford to annoy her/him if I seem unable to talk sensibly. I haven't got anyone to ask to be with me.
Do you think it would be ok to give them some extra A4 sheets I filled in with more complete answers to the pip form questions? My benefits advisor wrote very scant answers when he 'helped' me with the form and I don't feel he represented me very well and wrote misleading answers.

Do you have anyone willing to take you or not? All you can do is be honest with them. Take extra evidence but please remember they don’t always look at it.

cristobal · August 2019

@saffy - I believe the rules are that they will not take any extra information with them for reasons of 'confidentiality'.

They're supposed to read what you give them and take it into account. My assessor didn't - I think that if it was important enough I might consider reading it to them myself....

Good luck....

Saffy · August 2019

@poppy123456 God that's scary, watching me from the start. What are they looking for? I haven't even got anywhere for them to sit. It's so tiny in here, just my recliner and a single bed to use.
I'll give honest answers but if they base questions on the answers on my form that's a problem as they are my 'advisors' answers. i.e. he mentioned fibro fog and I'd never heard of it until I asked him to explain. It's not a term I would ever use. He also states I wear wrist supports and it's painful to grip my walking stick. Not true. I wear them because my wrists are weak and it hurts to twist them, as in wringing out a face flannel, or open jars.

poppy123456 · August 2019

Watching you is all part of the assessment process. They will ask you questions based on your disability and how it affects you. Yes, you'll need verify what's written on the form too.

I've had help many times with form filling and there's never been much information put down, although they have been filled in honestly. It's never gone against me thankfully. I only filled in the last 2 forms myself having realised that it's not always a great idea to have help with the forms because the only person that knows how your conditions affect you, is yourself.

I do believe that what @cristobal says is correct, for security they won't be able to take anything with them. I totally forgot about that.

All you can do is do your best. Once it's done, wait a week and request the assessment report from DWP, if you live in the UK. This will tell you what the decision is likely to be because they mostly go with the report.

Has my PIP advisor messed up my claim?

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