PIP Success Thanks to Benefits and Work!

On Friday 22nd December 2018 I received in the post the greatest Christmas present I could have hoped for in that I had been awarded the Enhanced Rates of both the Daily Living and Mobility Needs components of PIP! I can assure the readership that I breathed a huge sigh of relief.

My success was primarily due to the practical and the ingenious advice I received from carefully considering the information and advice contained within the publication “The Best Possible PIP Claims and Reviews on Mental Health and Learning Difficulties Grounds” as well as personal advice online from the Personal Advisors at Benefits at Work.

I also regard my awards as the greatest gift I have ever received all for the small sum of £19.95!

I encourage all the staff and advisers at Benefits at Work to keep up the outstanding, inestimable and professional work they are undertaking.

ianinpain

Hi ianinpain,

Congratulations on your award! Thank you for letting us know the outcome of your claim and for your kind words regarding B&W.

As suggested in the guide you used, you may wish to consider asking for a copy of the assessment report for your records.

Lisa

Hello Lisa
I apologise for the delay in replying to your suggestion that I should request a copy of my Assessment Report as I am still trying to find my way electronically around this most useful website and its contents as far as claiming benefits is concerned.
I have received a copy of my Assessment Report and the one outcome that I totally disagreed with in relation to points given was "Managing Treatments" where I had only been awarded a score of 1 point!
As an individual who has had Cerebral Palsy all of my life it is vital that on at least 4 occasions each and every week I undertake within the family home physiotherapist-recommended exercises in an attempt to retain the poor level of mobility I currently have.
In order to safely, reliably and to the prescribed standard complete such exercises on every occasion my wife must be present in case I fall and injure myself. My fall rate is high and in the past 24 hours I have fallen twice.
Despite the fact that I fully deliberated on this matter when completing my PIP application the health professional who undertook my face-to-face Medical Assessment never mentioned this matter let alone discuss it!
I fail to understand why I did not attain a higher score particularly considering that as a result of direct observation the health professional on my mobility and constant pain scored me 12 points with regard to the Mobility descriptor.
I seriously considered requesting a Mandatory Reconsideration of this descriptor and the points awarded but was advised by your colleague Gordon that it would be imprudent to do so as the panel reconsidering each request lodged would reconsider ALL the scores I had initially been awarded as opposed to the ONE descriptor I had made the request regarding and I could consequently loose points. My firm belief was that when a claimant requested a Mandatory Consideration regarding a specific descriptor ONLY that descriptor was reconsidered! I therefore decided not to request a Mandatory Reconsideration and advised other physically disabled people and persons with psychological disorders with whom I regularly come in contact regarding this important and what I consider unfair ruling. In so doing the Panel are really challenging the findings of the health professional who undertook the face-to-face Medical Assessment of the claimant and they (the Panel members) have NEVER DIRECTLY OBSERVED the claimant requesting the reconsideration.
I can categorically state that as a result of considerable contact with persons who are included in both of the aforementioned categories that they too were only scoring 1 point in the Managing Treatments descriptor!
Furthermore though I have been diagnosed by a psychological professional and am being daily treated as suffering from "Anxiety from Depression" I was awarded no points under the Planning and Following Journeys descriptor. When I truthfully answered the health professional's question "Have you ever contemplated suicide?" and I answered NO my fate was sealed as far as being awarded points was concerned. I have consequently come to the conclusion that one has to be suicidal and to be able to provide written evidence from a psychological professional in order to gain any points under this particular descriptor and to me that is beyond contempt on the part of those who devised the rulings relating to Planning and Following a Journey!
I have also inquired from all of the health professionals named within my application who had treated me both physically and psychologically over many years - including my Domiciliary Care worker and Occupational Therapist - if they had been contacted by the group undertaking PIP medical assessments in the area where I live to substantiate claims I had made in my PIP application and ALL of them stated "NO"! It seems as though the groups employed with regard to PIP medical assessments do NOT TRUST others who are most likely better qualified medically and psychologically and most certainly know their patient better.
I trust that what I have explained to you will be of some benefit to the B&W team and other applicants for PIP.
ianinpain

In the past Benefits and Work have been an extremely useful site and I have promoted it on the radio and when I email acquaintances and also my MP (now in the House of Lords).
Unfortunately, the PIP assessor this time wrote lies and I was downgraded after at least 6 years on the Higher rate mobility points.
I phoned the DWP to ask how to make a mandatory reconsideration and, again, the person on the phone asked some questions and I expected to receive a form in the post. That didn't happen because I could hear her typing while I was talking and when I asked her what she was typing she said she was doing the MR FOR ME! I countered her and told her she had no right but she insisted. I told her she had better send me a copy of my assessment and what she had written on my behalf without my consent. At the end of the conversation she told me that once downgraded they would not be giving anyone an enhanced rate??!! What the F....I told her.
I then called again and told them off telling them of their and their assessor's complete incompetence that with 3 inherited conditions and post traumatic osteoarthritis and now cancer, how on earth she expected me to get downgraded and get better? I then got the form in the post.
Another lady from the DWP called and said if I send in more details (as if they don't have enough scans, reports, loads of medical evidence etc.) it might not go to tribunal! Their assessment and report of their decision also mentioned they had contacted some of my medical professionals.
In our appeal we asked them to give us a copy of the so-called medical letters they had received from my consultants, which all my consultants deny ever having received any correspondence from the DWP. They only have the papers I have sent them.
My GP and consultants are all fuming at the level of incompetence and aggressive behaviour of the DWP. I have to have nurses visit me at home because I cannot travel on public transport and what did the DWP do? They took away my only form of transport in which I can get in and out of because I cannot bend easily and my left knee doesn't bend.
Some of my nurse visitors tell me of their friends who have worked for the assessors such as ATOS and Capita and they left really quickly because they thought the job was unethical and immoral. Yet, they won't whistleblow.
I am waiting, relatively housebound unless I can get one of the new electric black cabs where I just fit and can get in and out of with assistance, for their next reply in another 6 weeks. This had been going on since August.
I think Scotland cassocked Capita and ATOS. It's time we also did the same and the bosses should have their bonuses removed and put back into the health system.