Getting an extension to completing PIP2 form

Further update:

My home assessment was due to take place between 10am to noon today. At 9.45am - after having a restless night and being extremely anxious - I received a call from IAS. The HCP who was due to see me had spoken to her manager to express concerns about the suitability of a home assessment in my case and her manager had agreed that it was not appropriate. Without going into details I had detailed on my PIP review forms that at times my mental health problems have caused me to become confrontational when upset and that this has sometimes been interpreted as aggression. I was previously aware that home assessments are not usually given where there could be any sort of perceived risk to the HCP but I'd forgotten about this until I was being told this morning that I would have to attend a consulation centre after all. So my appointment has been rearranged for 28/03, thankfully to the PIP assessment centre which is the closest to me. To be honest I'm now exhausted by all of this. On top of that, yesterday I received my date for an ESA assessment, Monday 18/03. Because of this I'm all over the place at the moment. I just wish I could switch off the anxiety.

I've now had both my ESA assessment (last Monday) and my PIP assessment (today). Am I correct in thinking that the DWP won't release a copy of the ESA85 until a decision has been made?

Also, with regards to getting a copy of my PA4 for my PIP assessment I believe that the DWP will release this before a decision has been made. I've read advice to just wait a few days after the assessment and to phone up to request a copy. However how safe is it to do this without triggering a decision? I'd rather the DWP take as long they can as I won't be able to better the rate I am on now and there's the risk that I could either lose my award or get the standard care rate. I've read it shouldn't hasten a decision by asking for a copy of the report but when I had to transfer from DLA to PIP back in 2016 I phoned up a week after the assessment to get a copy of the report, was told I had to wait until a decision had been made and a week later a decision was made on my PIP claim (I failed to get it but did so on mandatory reconsideration). Perhaps the quick decision (two weeks to the day after my PIP assessment) was just a coincidence but I don't want to ask for a copy of the PA4 if it just leads to another quick decision.

How are you getting on Robbie? Hubby has just phoned this morning and got a 2 week extension to allow him to complete and send back his form.

Cocacola wrote: How are you getting on Robbie? Hubby has just phoned this morning and got a 2 week extension to allow him to complete and send back his form.

I've had the results back on both my ESA and PIP reviews and it's not great.

My ESA review has been successful and I'm still in the WRAG though for almost a month I was placed in the Support Group. I phoned up to get a copy of the assessment report when I was placed into the Support Group and later that day I had a series of phone calls from the DWP which I missed because I was out. Eventually I got to speak to them and was told I'd asked them to call me. I explained I hadn't, I'd just asked for a copy of my assessment report. The guy sounded a bit flustered so I asked if everything was OK with my ESA claim. He said yes but the tone of his voice was telling me something else. He said "you're in the support group" and I said "I know, I had phoned to ask for a copy of the assessment report". He continued to sound flustered so I just said "what was the reason I was put in the support group" He couldn't tell me other than it was under Regs 34, which I believe is the Support Group descriptors part of the ESA Regulations. After the call ended I had an uneasy feeling that something wasn't right. A couple of days later I got a copy of my assessment report and after reading through it I couldn't work out why I was in the SG. The report give no recommendation for LCWRA. Indeed the report just suf=ggested LCW. Roll on two weeks and I then got a brown envelope. I thought it must have been my PIP oucome. Nope, it was a ltter telling me I'd been moved from the SG to WRAG! I phoned the DWP to see what was going on and was told a "quality assurance" check must have realised I had been placed in the SG in error. I think it's because I phoned up to ask for a copy of my assessment. Quite why the frantic guy from the DWP was phoning me when all that was needed was for someone to print off a copy of the assessment report and put it in an envelope but whatever did happen, and I presume the guy phoned me because he was under the impression I'd asked them to call me, the guy must have passed my case back to the Decision Maker. He had made 6 phone calls in little more than an hour - all of which I missed, he managed to speak to me on call number 7 - which is a lot for a simple "call me" request. Anyway, I was in the WRAG before so I'm no worse off than I was a coupole of months ago.

But - and it is a big but - my PIP outcome isn't good at all. I've lost my Daily Living component (I was on the enhanced rate before) though I have gained the standard mobility component and have scored 10 points. I got 4 points for daily living. I telephoned on Monday to get a copy of my assessment and it arrived this morning. Having read through it I can't see any room for asking for a reconsideration. Interestingly when I phoned on Monday I was told that there were two reports I would be sent. The second was completed following a referral for advice from the Case Manager at the DWP on activity 11 (Planning and following journeys). The assessor had put down I had serious problems performing this activity, outlined them and that the evidence showed I did have serious problems - and then marked the activity as "Can plan and follow the route of a journey unaided". The Case Manager must have realised there was a discrepancy and queried it. IAS then said that the correct descriptor should have been "cannot follow the route of of an unfamiliar journey without another person" and so the Case Manager awarded me 10 points.

My ESA has now been reduced as I've lost the Severe Disability Premium and the Enhanced Disability Premium. Add in the loss of my daily living compnent of PIP and my weekly income has dropped by over 50%. At least the standard mobility component of PIP has given me a little bit extra to offset the losses. But I still think phoning up to get a copy of my ESA assessment report has cost me the Support Group rate and therefore that in itself means a loss of £26.30 per week. I wish I'd not asked for a copy of the report. Maybe it really was quality checked and that's how the error came to light but I'm certain it was me phoning and the initial call handler making a referral to the benefit office for a callback when that is not what I'd asked for. I can remember asking for a copy of the report and she said she'd send a request for the report to the benefit office.