PIP Decision - 0 Points on everything

Hello

I just had my PIP assessment back and they awarded me 0 points in every single of the activities across both daily living and mobility. I followed the PIP guide and the supplementary guides for my conditions and yet they decided to award 0 points everywhere, this was a little... surprising as you might imagine especially after successfully being awarded LCWRA with the help of those guides.

The reasons for the decisions are absent, they essentially say "I have decided you can..." and then list off all the activities where I could score points but do not give any information on why they came to those conclusions, do they have to give a reason why?

Even stranger still in the few examples where they do list why they decided they're completely wrong. For example "your medication dose hasn't increased over the year" when I haven't been taking the medication for a year yet. "you aren't taking any anti-anxiety medication" the medication that they just said hadn't increased in a year is for anxiety. They even go as far as saying that I'm on a "low dose" of a certain medication, I don't believe there's any medical grounds on which they can decide if something is a low dose is there unless I'm mistaken? They say I take care of complex budgeting decisions, I live with my parents and have no outgoing bills in the video assessment they asked if I top my phone up and I said no.

They also decide that because I attended university 10 years ago (incorrectly stating I had no support at the time, when I supplied evidence that I had a counsellor and had extra support for deadlines and also told the assessor during the video meeting) that this meant I have good cognition and memory recall. My particular illnesses and subsequent diagnoses came years after my university degree ended, again all the evidence of this was submitted beforehand and during the meeting.

Just to be clear I have supplied evidence in my application to back up all of these points and reiterated them all during the video assessment so there is no room for confusion, this just feels like a deliberate stitch-up. Again the decision provided and the reasons for them are all wrong.

Obviously I need to ask for a mandatory reconsideration, but my main question would be... because every single point made in the decision is either incorrect or absent do I have to resubmit every single piece of evidence that I already submitted with my PIP application including photocopies and do I have to go over everything with reasons why they are wrong? It does seem like in essence I would be submitting my entire PIP application again which makes me wonder what the point of it was.

Apologies for the long post, thank you in advance!

Hi,

Thanks for the quick reply, should I not point out the mistakes that they made in terms of saying I wasn't taking any anti-anxiety medication when I am? Also when they asserted that I was on a "low dose" of medication and in their opinion had limited input from my GP or mental health services (again I supplied evidence to the contrary) should I not remind them that in their handbook it states "When considering mental health medication HPs should
remember that not all claimants with a mental health condition
will be on medication or receiving therapy. Severity of a mental health condition does not necessarily correspond with the type
or dosage of medication that the claimant is receiving". or should I just stick to the evidence that I have an avoid mentioning the handbook etc?

Also is it true that I have to say what points I should've scored? I assume the DWP make the points and descriptors available to everyone to see? I'm just a bit hazy on that aspect because it feels like such a long time ago when I sent my application in.

Thanks again

So sorry you’re going through this. My assessment report also said that because I had a degree then I couldn’t have any problems with finance due to long term MH (??!) I got 0 pts too. Got enhanced living award and lower rate mobility at tribunal. It took best part of a year, was truly soul destroying, but tribunal doctor was empathetic and exasperated.

Hello just a small update on my MR,

They haven't changed their decision unsurprisingly, again however they have not given me any details on how they actually came to their decision. I think it'd be easier to just show you word for word what they wrote.

"Thank you for telling us how your health conditions affect you. We have used what you told us and all of the available evidence to make out decision. Personal Independent Payment is based on your ability to carry out a number of activities in a safe way on a regular basis. PIP is not awarded for having certain health conditions. We would like to tell you what is required for each of these levels of help. Yo need an aid, a device must be needed to help you complete an activity. To need prompting, another person would be needed to help you manage this activity. To need assistance, another person would need to physically help you including doing some, but not all, of the activity. To need supervision, another person must be with you all the time while you are completing the activity to ensure your safety. The activity of going out does not cover your physical ability to walk, it considers your mental or sensory ability to plan and follow a route and how much distress going out would cause. The activity of moving around considers your physical ability to stand and then move without severe discomfort, such as breathlessness, pain or fatigue in a safe and timely manner. Following reviewing the assesment report and decision made on 30.01.24 we have decided the evidence indicates you have the ability to carry out the daily living and mobility activities used to assess eligibility for PUP to am acceptable standard. In making this decision we have considered your needs on the majority of days."

That's the entirety of the information they have provided.

As you can probably tell from that text, it gives me absolutely no details on why they have made a decision instead they've chosen to tell me how a decision is made.

Is this considering normal for a decision? Frustratingly both the initial decision and this MR decision gave no reasoning to their decisions.

I am going to submit an appeal, but how do I create my grounds for appeal based on the information (or lack thereof) that they've provided me with? For my MR I went through each point and explained my circumstances yet it made no difference.

Thanks again in advance.