PIP application and support group

Stephanie P wrote: Hi,
Can anyone tell me if PIP decision makers take into account when an applicant is already in the ESA support group receiving the disability premium and therefore is already considered to be significantly disabled? My daughter is in this position and has just been awarded nil points for everything.

Many thanks
Stephanie

Welcome to the forum, you might want to have a look at the following FAQ which explain where everything is

Welcome to Benefits and Work

It's unlikely that the DM will have looked at your daughter's SG award unless she drew their attention to it and in particular that the limitations that placed her in the SG also effect her ability to perform some of the PIP activities.

The first stage to challenging a Decision is for her to request a Mandatory Reconsideration, this needs to be done in writing to the DWP, within one month of the Decision, to the office that dealt with her claim, have a look at our PIP MR & Appeal guide for details of the process and template letters that she can use to make the request with.

www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/help-for-claimants/pip

She should contact the DWP for a copy of the assessment report if she has not already done so, I would phone them but again follow up the request in writing. Once she has the assessment report then 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.

She should have a look at our PIP Claim guide (same link) so that she is familiar with the criteria against which she was actually assessed.

Her primary task is to show that she meets the criteria, there are many reasons she may have failed, she needs to address each of these but she should try and avoid getting bogged down in criticising the assessment report unless she 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