PiP.

Got my answer today, was turned down flat. The letter I got bore absolutely no resemblance to my daily living at all. I have colitis, Asperger Syndrome, Severe Hypermobility, Anxiety, OCD,Vertigo and an Eating Disorder. (I sound delightful, don't I! )The Friday before the interview I'd been in A&E with a suspected heart attack (it wasn't, as it turns out) and the day before I'd been sedated for a colonoscopy. I told the nurse that it had been less than 24 hours since sedation and she told me it was fine. In fact she spent the whole interview telling me that my conditions were managed and this is what she told the assessor. Apparently because I went alone my Aspergers is fine and doesn't affect me socially. In fact it is only a social disorder and nothing else. My hyper mobility doesn't affect me at all, according to her, because it wasn't even mentioned, nor was my anxiety or OCD.
I have rung and asked for both bits to be reviewed due to the fact that I couldn't argue with her as was still suffering the after effects of sedation. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I suspect i will have to start from the beginning again!

Faery wrote: Got my answer today, was turned down flat. The letter I got bore absolutely no resemblance to my daily living at all. I have colitis, Asperger Syndrome, Severe Hypermobility, Anxiety, OCD,Vertigo and an Eating Disorder. (I sound delightful, don't I! )The Friday before the interview I'd been in A&E with a suspected heart attack (it wasn't, as it turns out) and the day before I'd been sedated for a colonoscopy. I told the nurse that it had been less than 24 hours since sedation and she told me it was fine. In fact she spent the whole interview telling me that my conditions were managed and this is what she told the assessor. Apparently because I went alone my Aspergers is fine and doesn't affect me socially. In fact it is only a social disorder and nothing else. My hyper mobility doesn't affect me at all, according to her, because it wasn't even mentioned, nor was my anxiety or OCD.
I have rung and asked for both bits to be reviewed due to the fact that I couldn't argue with her as was still suffering the after effects of sedation. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I suspect i will have to start from the beginning again!

Hi F,

Inaccurate PIP Decision Notices and PIP PA4 Medical Reports seem to be "par for the course" at the moment !.

I would back up your oral request for an MR with a written one and phone The PIP helpline to request a copy of your PA4.

Here is some generic advice on PIP MR/Appeals that should help :

You have one month from the date of the PIP Decision Notice letter to make a written request for a Mandatory Reconsideration (MR) of the PIP decision.

Sending Documents to the DWP.

You could also ring the PIP Helpline :

Telephone: 0345 850 3322
Textphone: 0345 601 6677
Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm

To request a copy of The PA4 PIP Medical Report compiled by the PIP Assessor at your face to face and sent to The DWP PIP DM to be used when the DM came to their decision.

If you have any problems obtaining The PA4 with a verbal request, you can make a written request which should be done as a separate issue to any MR request :

You can do this using a SAR Form :

SAR Form Download

From this page :

DWP Data Protection Policy

Or you can make the request in the form of a letter, as long as you make it clear that you are making a formal SAR under The Data Protection Act 1998.

Address the envelope : FAO The Data Controller, at the Benefits Office dealing with your PIP.

Write DPA 1998 SAR in front, top, left corner of envelope.

Once received, they have 40 calendar days to comply.

You should not miss your one month deadline if The PA4 has not arrived.

You can make comment that you have requested this and will submit further evidence if applicable when you receive it.

You should be aware that when you request an MR, any current PIP Awards, Daily Living and/or Mobility, that you might have, can be increased, reduced or taken away altogether, as they will look at the whole PIP Awards afresh.

Obviously if you have no current PIP Award, there is no risk involved.

See : PIP MR/Appeals Guidance.

Disability Rights UK Factsheet - Appeals and Mandatory Reconsiderations.

Once you have gone through The MR Process, if you are still unsuccessful, you have one month from the date of The MR Decision Notice Letter to appeal directly to The Tribunal Service. (TS)

You should do this using copy of The MR Notice letter and the : SSCS 1 Form (Download Link)

All this is explained in our PIP Appeals Guidance

In the MR request and any subsequent Appeal you should concentrate on reiterating where and why you should have scored the extra points with respect to the applicable PIP Activities and the appropriate scoring PIP Descriptor for that Activity, whilst cross-referencing to any medical evidence that you have, or may have already provided.

You should take into account that the PIP DM is not medically qualified at all, so the easier that you can make it for them to understand the limitations that you suffer as a result of your medical conditions, and how those limitations score you the required points under the appropriate scoring PIP Descriptor for each applicable PIP Activity, the better your chance of success.

Once you have the PA4, you can pose any counter arguments to the PIP Assessors recommendations in The PA4.

e.g. If they are stating that you can carry out a particular PIP Activity, has it been taken into account that to be classed as being able to carry out a PIP Activity, you must be able to do so Reliably and Safely for The Majority of Days

If the Assessor has stated that they witnessed you Walking a set distance have they taken into account the above, the time it took you to do so, and any pain, discomfort and breathless, etc that you may have suffered whilst doing so ? etc, etc, etc !!

Try and keep you counter arguments relevant to The PIP Activities/Descriptors where you would have expected to score points or more points than you were actually awarded.

See also : PIP Self Test

PIP Points Scoring System

&

PIP Claims Guide. (2nd Link down the page)

You might want to Bookmark/Favourite this page in your Internet Browser so that you can return to your topic easily to pose any further queries that you may have.

bro58

Thank you. I have requested by 'phone a reconsideration. The chap sounded quite shocked that I was 'dealt with' less than 24 hours after sedation. I will back up the request in writing though.