DLA to PIP Award Reduced

Hi everyone,

I am so sorry for not posting again sooner. From when I received my MR notice I seem to have slept for an age. I had started to forget what sleep was, as I had had more all nighters stressing about my PIP situation than when I was younger and out partying Thank you for all your kind words. They mean a lot to me.

I hope it is ok to share my experience and approach to the MR, as hopefully it will prove useful to someone else. When I was obsessing about PIP and my MR, one of the things I constantly searched for was experiences, mainly where there had been a positive outcome.

Timeline:

26/7/16 - Made call to lodge MR and stated I would be sending a letter via special delivery that day. I opted for special delivery and made it clear I was sending it via this method so as to try and get it in as quick as possible. Consequently, trying to halt a decision being made without my letter and at the very least have a point to try and argue should that have happened.

27/7/16 - letter received

3/8/16 - DWP text message received stating they had my request and I did not need to contact them.

12/8/16 - MR noticed received and the decision was dated 10/8/16. My points had been increased from 10 to 14. Two out of three of the descriptors I challenged remained the same and were justified by the assessor's report. The third, taking nutrition, the new DM disagreed with the assessor and awarded me 4 points from 0.

from the date of receipt of my MR letter it took two weeks for a decision to be made. I was surprised by this, as I had been informed that they were taking 8-10 weeks.

Approach to the MR:

As I stated in my first post, my form was a disaster and I was not surprised when I received a medical date. Had it not have been for the PIP guides on this site, I am not convinced I would have scored the points I was originally awarded. As I knew nothing about PIP and how it operates. Clearly the disability service that helped with my form did not either. Anyways, I similarly consulted the PIP appeal guides to construct my MR request.

Prior to and during writing the MR, I tried to keep three things in mind for my approach. These were, write as though it is for someone else, avoid using emotive and accusatory language and to remember I only needed one of my points/explanations to be taken on board to get the rate I believe I am entitled to. The last one mainly eased the pressure I felt and I found it worked.

Before drafting it, I read the guides and scribbled down notes of points I wished to make. These points were based on my conditions, how they affected me and how the reality of them were not wholly (some points not at all) reflected in the assessor's report. I made sure to consult my form, as bad as it was, so as to ensure I was not adding what could be argued to be a new condition/symptom. And where applicable I used my sparse form content as a base to expand my explanations.

Structure wise, I essentially followed the appeal submission guide. I provided an introductory blurb (around 4 lines) pointing out not all information was available to the DM. To try and provide a bit of balance and not come across as one sided and accusatory, I also politely noted that I was explaining areas were there had been 'misunderstanding' on the assessor's part. I also noted that parts of the form were fair and accurate, which is true.

The MR was 3 pages long. 1/2 a page consisted of my details and blurb. The remaining 2.5 pages consisted of the descriptors I did not agree with. I chose to argue three very well, opposed to taking on every single one where I feel I should have been awarded points. The rationale behind this included to not put the new DM off reading the MR by overloading them with pages and pages - Just my personal approach and concerns. I also chose the ones I did because I knew my limitations meant I should have been given more points.

For each descriptor I challenged, I put them as a heading. I then gave multiple bullet pointed paragraphs consisting of between 4-8 lines. Within the paragraphs I kept the sentences short, for the purposes of getting as much information in as possible without being wordy and losing the reader's train of thought.

I aimed to explain and demonstrate the link between my limitations and why I believed a descriptor should be awarded. As my conditions vary, I took a 'good, bad and ugly' approach to my explanations. I sought to try and give a condensed overview of my daily life and challenges. To only discuss the bad points, would have been wrong to do as my conditions can be so variable. Instead, I explained and stressed how I am limited on a 'good day' as well as 'bad days'. I.e. because of the nature of the beast that is BPD, I can have episodes of mania and whilst life seems wonderful at the time and I can be bouncing about, shopping etc. I remain a danger to myself at these times as I have zero awareness of the consequences of my words, behaviours and actions. During such times my mood can rapidly change again.

I gave lots of examples, referred to my conditions as the explanation for those examples and I used key words such as 'safely'. I explained why safety could be jeopardised. As well as discussing why I may be able to carry out an activity one day, does not mean I can do it the majority of the time.

I know this summary is very condensed and not condition specific, but I hope it makes sense and may be of some use to others who are writing their MR

Finally, I also opted not to challenge the 4 points I received for mobility. Although from my understanding of the guides, I do think I could have qualified for an award. After having read many posts with regards to this activity and mental health, I will be completely honest here, I did not think I could cope with the difficulty of achieving a successful challenge.

Had it not have been for this site and the amazing advice and support it provides, I genuinely fear for what the alternative outcome could have been. Thank you so much again, you provide a service so amazing that I struggle to think of words strong enough to describe how wonderful and important your help is. I recommended and showed my mental health nurse this site, as unsurprisingly she has a lot of patients in the same confusing, frightening and stressful position as the majority of us. She passes the site onto her patients and consults it to help her other patients through the assessment process