PIP Decision - 0 points

RJB wrote: Hi Everyone
I suffer with depression, anxiety, anemia, sciatica and other problems. I applied for PIP as advised by Welfare rights and today I have received my decision letter today awarding me nil points . I cannot understand the Decision Maker's Reasoning it is not clear it reads does not "I stated I had difficulties preparing food etc etc but they have decided I can prepare food etc etc." They state that this is consistent with my medical history, my description of a typical day, informal observations and the findings of mental state and MS examinations?
Unfortunately I only became aware of this site after I had sent my "how my disability affects me form off" which I admit I had not explained in detail the effects.

I have drafted my MR and I was wondering if someone would be able to have a quick look at it for me?

Thank you.

Welcome to the forum

I am sorry, but even if it was practical for you to load your letter on the forum, we could not offer comment on it. It is a rule of the forum that the Moderators cannot give personal advice, our role is to make sure that members have access to the information they need in regard to their claims and to the best of our ability, they are able to understand that information.

There are two reasons for this;

- we have no knowledge of you or your day to day problems

- you might act on that uninformed advice and this may not be to your benefit.

The PIP Appeal guide explains the MR and appeal processes and the PIP section has template letter that you can use to make the request.

You do not need to go into detail in your MR request, if it is easier you can send in your additional information afterwards, you need to inform the DWP that you will be doing this.

You should contact the DWP for a copy of the assessment report if you have not already done so, I would phone them but again follow up the request in writing. Once you have the assessment report you will have a better understanding of how the DWP Decision Maker has come to their conclusions and will then be able to argue against them.

Your primary task is to show that you meet the criteria, there are many reasons you may have failed, you need to address each of these but don't get bogged down in criticising the assessment report unless you can clearly show that it is incorrect, it is a lot easier to argue the facts of the situation;

"the assessor recorded that I walked 50m, I did but they have failed to document that I had to stop every 10m for a rest due to breathlessness"

than their opinions

"based on my observations of the claimant walking I believe that they can reliably walk more than 200m.

When you have a better idea of the issues with your claim, come back to the forum and we will do our best to help.

Gordon