My Successful PIP Story

Hi All
This is what happened to me when I applied for PIP. It was my first application having been turned for DLA several years ago.
2019
14 August I phoned to start the application.
15 October PIP2 returned after getting an extension of 2 weeks.
12 November Assessment.
25 November At long last I received the assessment report.
2 December Decision made and award letter received.
Standard Daily Living. No Mobility. For an ongoing period.
16 December I posted my MR letter together with all the original evidence, mainly to do with my mobility, that had not been listed or used for the original decision.
2020
3 February A Case Manager phoned me to discuss the points made in my MR letter.
7 February A large amount of money paid into my bank account.
12 February Another large amount of money paid into my bank account.
12 February I received the decision
Enhanced Daily Living and Standard Mobility
5 March I posted an on-line Appeal for Mobility
20 May A large amount of money paid into my bank account.
29 May A letter from the Tribunal Service. The appeal had been lapsed as a new decision had been made.
8 June After a phone call to the DWP I received a decision letter.
Enhanced Daily Living and Enhanced Mobility for an ongoing period.
I had hoped for Standard Daily Living and Enhanced Mobility at most so I am over the moon with the result.
All of this took place after my 65th birthday and my conditions are mainly Musculo-skeletal.
Most of my evidence was old but I had an up-to-date GP report.
From this experience I learned that:
You use the guides (they are invaluable and so so good)
Treat each descriptor in isolation from the rest of them. Never assume that they will make any connections between them. If you struggle to use a knife when preparing food, don’t assume the assessor will take those issues into account for when you are eating. State them again. The assessors and decision-makers will not make a connection. You will feel like you are repeating yourself because you are but you need to.
Use lots of examples of how your conditions make life difficult compared to the norm. We learn to accommodate our disabilities and get round any problems.
Reference your evidence when answering the descriptor with “See Appendix Y or Report dated XX”.
Check when the report is completed relative to when you had your assessment. Mine was finished 4 full working days after the assessment and I used this to draw attention to the discrepancies between the assessment and what was in the report.
Check all your evidence has been used. If not, why not? None of the evidence for my mobility problems was used by the assessor or listed in the report. I had had a Blue Badge for over 6 years and poor mobility had been the main factor in me getting Support Group in 3 separate ESA assessments. I re-sent all this evidence with my MR letter.
Don’t tear the assessor’s report to pieces but maybe take a few glaring points to help cast doubt on the validity of the rest.
If I used a big word or medical/technical word I explained it in brackets.
Don’t limit yourself to the space on the PIP2 form. In the PIP2 boxes, I wrote “See pages X to Y of the attached sheets”. I sent 48 extra pages of text plus another 40 pages of evidence (broken down into 27 annotated appendices) together with a week-long diary. My MR letter was 10 pages along with 14 pages of evidence.
I couldn’t have done any of this without this site, the guides, Gordon, Gary and BIS, and all the other contributors and would like to thank you all.