Lost mobility component on PIP

I have read question 13 on the PIP guide again and feel strongly that I should have scored 10 points because I cannot follow the route of an unfamiliar journey without another person. I don't know why I was only scored 4 points because the decision maker wrote that he felt I could plan and follow a route with prompting for the majority of the time. I have agoraphobia and social phobia which was clearly stated in my psychiatrist letter and I have only attended psychiatrist appointments in the last 3 years and haven't left the house without my husband. I can only imagine that because I did a course of group therapy in 2011 the decision maker thought I could go out on my own with prompting but I had to stop that therapy and now I am house bound. I am going to follow your guides and ask for a reconsideration because I am in the esa support group precisely because of my agoraphobia and social phobia and I will lose it if the DWP have clearly misunderstood my difficulties. Could I trouble you to ask firstly, although I could risk losing my enhanced rate daily living component by asking for a reconsideration, do you know statistically any idea of the percent of reconsiderations that result in the award being an even worse result and secondly what I should ask my psychiatrist to explain in a letter or anything else of relevance in my appeal? Many thanks. So sorry to be asking so many questions but can't think of anything else right now.

mad cow wrote: I have read question 13 on the PIP guide again and feel strongly that I should have scored 10 points because I cannot follow the route of an unfamiliar journey without another person. I don't know why I was only scored 4 points because the decision maker wrote that he felt I could plan and follow a route with prompting for the majority of the time. I have agoraphobia and social phobia which was clearly stated in my psychiatrist letter and I have only attended psychiatrist appointments in the last 3 years and haven't left the house without my husband. I can only imagine that because I did a course of group therapy in 2011 the decision maker thought I could go out on my own with prompting but I had to stop that therapy and now I am house bound. I am going to follow your guides and ask for a reconsideration because I am in the esa support group precisely because of my agoraphobia and social phobia and I will lose it if the DWP have clearly misunderstood my difficulties. Could I trouble you to ask firstly, although I could risk losing my enhanced rate daily living component by asking for a reconsideration, do you know statistically any idea of the percent of reconsiderations that result in the award being an even worse result and secondly what I should ask my psychiatrist to explain in a letter or anything else of relevance in my appeal? Many thanks. So sorry to be asking so many questions but can't think of anything else right now.

Hi MC,

As you are aware, they can re-look at the whole PIP Award including your Enhanced DL Award.

You can stipulate that you are only challenging the The Mobility aspect, but they can still look at The DL Award.

I am not aware of any statistics regarding the success or otherwise of MR's, I am not sure that there is any.

Also, with respect to PIP specifically, there is little or no data at all regarding MR/Appeals as the "Benefit" is so new.

Besides reading through our : PIP Claims Guide. (2nd Link on page)

You can also take our : PIP Self Test marking yourself very strictly.

See also : PIP MR/Appeals Guidance.

Mandatory Reconsiderations Explained

&

Disability Rights UK Factsheet - Appeals and Mandatory Reconsiderations.

You can also consult Guidance given to PIP Assessors, on : This post.

I have had a quick look back at your posts, but can't seem to see mention of how many points you received for The Enhanced DL Award.

As you may know, you need a minimum of 12 points for an Enhanced Award.

Questions to ask yourself, did you just scrape in, how many points were you awarded, is your DL Award reasonably safe ?

You should try and risk assess the above as best you can, or seek professional advice from CAB or the like.

bro58

Thanks bro58, I scored 15 points on my recent PIP award on the daily living component after being on DLA higher rate care. In the DWP letter I got today it said the award was til 2019 so would that be considered fairly safe rather than scraped in do you think? So grateful for you replying so quickly above.

Hi,

I got a very unexpected call from the DWP today. I don't use the phone but when my husband answered and a lady ask for me by name, we both assumed that because I am at the top of a two year waiting list for therapy, it would be them telling me I had an appointment. Anyway, it was a lady from the DWP.

She asked if I had received my PIP decision letter and if I was happy with it. I said that I was upset to have lost the mobility component and she went through the usual speel trying to explain that from my evidence it was felt that I should only score 4 points for needing prompting to make the route of a journey. I said that I could not leave the house without being accompanied by my husband and I had only left the house 4 times in one year to see my psychiatrist. She carried on about the descriptors and I just kept repeating that I cannot leave the house with just a prompt, but that I had only left the house 4 times with my husband. Her exact words were 'if you have any new evidence then.......'. I said that I didn't need any new evidence and that it was all very clear in the evidence I had submitted. She said 'yes because you said that you could leave the house with your husband to attend your psychiatric appointments, that is why you got 4 points' I said 'but four times a year is not for the majority of the time is it?'. Can you believe it but her exact words to me were 'yes, it's a tricky one'?????

She said she would put a note on my paperwork to say I will be writing a letter to ask for the decision to be looked at again and asked me to get my GP or psychiatrist to write another letter.

My worry is that firstly, could they take points off my enhanced rate daily living component purely because I sounded very coherent and knew what I was talking about on the phone (I might be sick but I am not stupid) and also after speaking to my psychiatrist secretary, she said that if I wrote a sentence or two, she would be happy to sign it, so what do I say 'this lady is unable to leave the house without being accompanied by her husband'?

So worried. I just think this lady's use of the word tricky implies that this is exactly what they are trying to do, trick us. I just don't know if I have made things worse by being very assertive on the phone, and she was very off with me and couldn't wait to get off the phone. I just feel that somehow they are going to punish me or take points off me for standing up to them.

thank you.