UPDATE FOR YOU ALL ON PIP

samfits99 · July 2020

I have already posted it and I will post it for a final time. My award review was expected to be around September time but a decision maker called me up and I have been awarded the same rate but for 5 years now not 4 years we previous. I’m so happy. but just to add the DM said with all the recent evidence they received made the decision a lot easier. I honestly thought sending off more information/ evidence could go against me but it hasn’t. it’s gone in my favour. I’m not saying it will be the case for everyone. Just so delighted! thank you scope and everyone for your replies.

Ami2301 · July 2020

Great news @samfits99

samfits99 · July 2020

@Ami2301 thanks buddy

Topkitten · July 2020

Gz.

I am due to retire in 2.5 years but they insist on me having another assessment for PIP before I retire. I know I should pass ok but I am terrified of losing it just before I retire and not being able to get it back due to old age.

TK

leeCal · July 2020

@Topkitten isn’t it so that you can claim attendance allowance after retirement age? I am told however that the forms to fill in are arduous.

Lulu_1949 · July 2020

@leeCal , have you got any pointers for attendance allowance asi am considering applying for this x

leeCal · July 2020

Hi @Lulu_1949 this is one

https://www.gov.uk/attendance-allowance

mikehughescq · July 2020

You cannot claim PIP and AA together. PIP is the working age version. AA is only available post pensionable age. However, AA only has one component so there’s likely to be a significant financial loss for anytime getting both components of PIP. Far better to go through the pre pensionable age PIP reassessment.

Lulu_1949 · July 2020

@LeeCal, thanks for that, i will have a good read since I am post pension age.
i have had trouble walking since I had my replacement hip in November and the hospital have put me on tablets now because they think I might osteoporosis, I am still under the hospital as they are investigating... just wondered if that came under the category required to claim this benefit. Reading the points for PIP I would I think qualify but now I am too old for this benefit.

samfits99 · July 2020

@mikehughescq so glad I got awarded it for 5 years. DM called me now I’m waiting to get my letter in the post. as I sent off new evidence ect ect

Topkitten · July 2020

@leeCal, if you are in receipt of PIP when you reach pension age you continue to keep it and can therefore get access to Motability vehicles and other things ongoing. However, if you don't have it then after pension age you can never get it back. Stupid system and I can see it being abused by a government desperate to cut benefit costs if, just before retirement, everyone suddenly no longer qualifies.

TK

leeCal · July 2020

@Topkitten thank you for the information. My pip runs out on the same date my pension starts and apparently I can try to renew it up to six months before then. I will certainly try because apart from things like motability etc pip is worth more than attendance allowance, and there’s no telling that I could get the latter anyway.

mikehughescq · July 2020

Topkitten said:

Stupid system and I can see it being abused by a government desperate to cut benefit costs if, just before retirement, everyone suddenly no longer qualifies.

TK

Not quite as stupid as it initially looks. The original AA and MA started at a point in time where it was assumed that

- lifetime awards wouldn’t be needed as people were overwhelmingly dead by 80 so terminating awards at 80 was fine.

- both benefits were to compensate for the impact of impairments in terms of unexpected functional loss. No new AA claims were allowed over pensionable age simply because it was assumed most people would go on to develop mobility issues through old age and thus why should government compensate for something which wasn’t an unexpected loss.

FWIW anyone with just mobility issues who has never had or loses DLA M or PIP M and who then makes a first claim to AA will generally struggle to qualify until they’re over 75/80 as AA is identical to DLA middle and higher rate care and thus totally focused on a need for attention/supervision with bodily functions and not mobility.

lulu1949 · July 2020

@mikehughescq so are you saying that because I am 71 years old it is pointless applying for AA because I have just filled out my form although I have never been on any benefit including pip ? Only due to an accident and a replacement hip which has left me unable to walk properly after 9 months?? Not because I am now classed as old! I was as fit as a fiddle prior my accident! My bodily functions are fine. Why shouldn’t I apply is my feeling now that I am struggling and getting out of breath after a few steps, again not an age thing!

Lou67 · July 2020

Hi Lulu I think you should definitely try for it your life has been affected due to an accident not because of your age good luck and take care 😊

Lulu_1949 · July 2020

Hi Lou, thanks for answering, thank you yes will do thanks for your support xx

mikehughescq · July 2020

lulu1949 said:

@mikehughescq so are you saying that because I am 71 years old it is pointless applying for AA because I have just filled out my form although I have never been on any benefit including pip ? Only due to an accident and a replacement hip which has left me unable to walk properly after 9 months?? Not because I am now classed as old! I was as fit as a fiddle prior my accident! My bodily functions are fine. Why shouldn’t I apply is my feeling now that I am struggling and getting out of breath after a few steps, again not an age thing!

Not quite sure how any of that would be read into the above response to another poster but there we go. Easy to misinterpret stuff online.

I would never say it’s pointless as I can’t possibly know the full facts of your case and haven’t seen you face to face. I’m also definitely not saying being a younger person over pensionable age is a reason to rule yourself out. Equally though having had an accident in itself would not be enough to justify a claim. As per other disability benefits at any age the history isn’t relevant. The consequences are.

As stated above though the rules for AA are exactly the same as for DLA care middle and higher rates i.e. they are around a need for attention or supervision with bodily functions such as sleeping, dressing, bathing, toileting, eating, seeing, hearing, meds, therapy etc. Similar but not identical areas to PIP daily living. Personal care not mobility. So, not directly related to mobility at all. Therefore a claim for AA based just on mobility will always fail.

However, it really depends on what you’ve written. To me it would be obvious that if your mobility is poor and related to restricted hip movement you would surely have some problems bending? If you have problems bending then I’d guess at an issue with both getting in and out of bed and getting dressed and undressed? Linked to that would surely be getting in or out of a bath or bending to wash yourself in a shower? Ditto getting on and off of a toilet or bending to dress whilst doing that.

You probably need to expand on being out of breath. That wouldn’t be a consequence of hip surgery unless linked to the pain. Pain impacts stamina and thus the ability to perform some of the tasks I describe above. Pain also impacts concentration so again you’d need to link it to whether you can do other bodily function stuff reliably.

If any of these take longer than a healthy person would take; can’t be done reliably; reasonably need help from another person then you have the start of a claim. If none of that applies to you, or your form has solely focused on mobility, without delving into the relevant bodily functions, then yes your claim will inevitably fail.

The reason I referenced age is that most WROs/WRAs will say that, for reasons no-one can explain, a claim for AA based solely on mobility often succeeds. They legally shouldn’t but anecdotally they do. I suspect it’s largely because DWP at that point assume most 80 year olds who claim will have issues with personal care/bodily functions whether they say so or not.

Lulu_1949 · July 2020

@mikehughescq, I appreciate that, when I said my bodily functions were fine I didn’t realise that the phrase ‘bodily functions ‘ covered all you have said above. Yes I am having all those problems and I have listed those in the form. Sent off. But thanks for clarifying that.

mikehughescq · July 2020

No problem @Lulu_1949. If all that’s covered in the claim pack then yes you’ve a decent shot at it.

Lulu_1949 · July 2020

Thank you @mikehughescq will come back when I get a reply and keep my fingers crossed 🤞

UPDATE FOR YOU ALL ON PIP

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