If this is your first visit, check out the community guide. You will have to Join us or Sign in before you can post.
Receiving too many notifications? Adjust your notification settings.
Failed MR
Ballyblade
Member Posts: 1 Listener
Hi all!
My son lost his DLA when he transferred to PIP. They repeatedly said that even though he told them he couldn't do x,y & z, because he turned up, dressed appropriately, attends mainstream school without the assistance of a classroom assistant, has no significant restrictions in his intellect, information processing and working memory & has a qualification in sailing (!!) it is therefore likely that he is capable of being independent and only awarded him 2 points for mixing with people, which I imagine is standard for ASD.
In my extra evidence for the MR I went through each descriptor explaining the issues he had - which they acknowledged he had said in his f2f - and highlighted the level of support he required from myself. I submitted a supporting letter from a medical Consultant who is a family friend and knows my son well.
I asked them that if they are going to uphold the original decision, what experience & training re ASD do the assessors have has it appears they have an alarming lack of insight. I also specifically asked them why these were the only things they kept referring to and why no other areas of executive functioning were given any credence or even mentioned. They appear to have little understanding of the condition.
Needless to say the MR came back saying the exact same thing as the initial decision. They did not address any of the questions I asked.
I am going to put in a formal complaint about the assessment process. As a healthcare professional I know no other assessment that totally disregards the history given by the client and goes entirely on assessing someone across a desk for less than an hour. It is total painting by numbers and I fail to see how any accountable practitioner can stand over it.
Everyone is saying oh it's just the system but the system is flawed and unless people challenge it nothing will change!!!
Everyone is saying oh it's just the system but the system is flawed and unless people challenge it nothing will change!!!
Replies
The next stage is tribunal which have a lot higher success rate.
Lots of people make complaints and I would encourage you to do so but they all seem to fall on deaf ears.
Lots of people are successful in their claims including myself but we dont hear much about the success stories
Have you considered writing to your local MP
All of the things you see as flaws in the HCP report are actually gaps in your evidence. You can exert energy raging against them or you can use their assertions to strengthen the case for PIP. Lodge an appeal but fill those gaps. If the claim pack had explicitly addressed why he might appear to be able to dress appropriately then they could not have said anything about it. If the claim pack had dealt with why he’s in a mainstream school without a CA they couldn’t have used that either. The HCP report has effectively told you where the gaps in your evidence are and the level of detail you will need to refute them. You now need to address those issues. It’s not all you need to do but it’s a start. Destroying the credibility of a HCP report does not get PIP. Building up your own evidence and filling in identified gains may well do.
The training and experience of a HCP in ASD is nothing to the point. DLA looks at the functional consequences of a condition not the condition itself. Those consequences are different for everybody so they’re for you to explain not the DWP to deduce.
1 - history is not relevant to DLA. All that matters is the level of attention or supervision needed on the date or claim; whether that passes the backwards and forwards tests and whether it’s substantially in excess of the norm for a healthy chIld of the same age.
Scope
Tell us what you think?
Complete our feedback form to help us to improve your community.