Unhappy with help from charity

Dear Gordon,

I appreciate it would not be wise for you to comment on a particular case which is why I haven't mentioned the charity by name. I think my best bet would be to forward more information and letters of support to Capita. I am not sure about talking again to the advisor will get me anywhere as she did seem very unfamiliar with PIP claims and not clear about what extra information could be. I now regret having asked for support in filling in the form as I should have stuck to your guides which are by the way excellant.

Basho

Hi Basho,

I've had a similar experience to you (at appeal stage) when an incompetent welfare rights worker wrote a completely fictitious appeal statement and sent it to the DWP without giving me a chance to read it. I had to disinstruct my representative and write to the tribunal to explain the situation.

Even if you authorize somebody to fill in your form you are expected to read and approve it - it is completely unacceptable for an adviser to send a form without giving you a chance to read it. In fact, the chances of it being accurate without omissions are virtually zero.

It's entirely up to you how you proceed, but if you are not happy about the accuracy or fullness of the form, it may be in your best interest to make it clear to the DWP that you did not have sight of the form before it was sent. This would make it harder for the decision maker to rely on any information or omissions on the PIP form.

Good luck,

Derek

Hi Basho,

I couldn't read and run when I saw your post. I hope it is ok to share my experience of pip and the dreaded form, as I was in a very similar position to yourself re a charity and their 'support' in filling out the form.

As soon as I left the charity's building I had a feeling of unease, as I felt many things I had tried to explain to the lady helping were disregarded and I was too soft to question or challenge her. I also trusted her. When I finally got up the courage to look at the form my heart sank. It was sparse, none of my examples had been written down and so on (shortened version lol)

I knew the white envelope with an Atom appointment would come and it did. My dla to pip award was reduced after that.

I decided that I would not continue with the organisation's help, as after discovering and scouring the wonderful guides on this site I realised the lady who had helped me really did not grasp pip and it's difference to dla. I decided I would do my own MR.

With support from those who knew me best, I used the appeals guide from this site and wrote my own MR. it was a hard slog and I really doubted myself as I was not only adding things that had been deliberately omitted by my 'helper' in my form - a few times she said 'that is not relevant', but I was adding in examples that I had no traditional evidence for, such as specialist letters. All I could do was direct the new DM to my medical files should they wish for confirmation that X condition. As well as explain how it impacts my daily life and it's connection to other issues I had put in my form and told the assessor.

This was the explanation my MR was successful on. Long story short, if the worst happens and things do not turn out as you had hoped, the form is not the only component considered and there is light at the end of the tunnel my form was a complete disaster.

I hope this is ok to post, I am not in any way trying to state how the dwp DM operates. I just wanted to share my experience to let you know you are not alone and even if your form is not a great reflection of your difficulties, it can still be remedied xx

Thank you for your responses and experiences.

After giving it some thought overnight ( pretty sleepless I should add!) I will use the complaints procedure the charity has to let them know I am unhappy about the quality of the help I recieved re my PIP application. I'll keep it simple, use non blaming phrases but point out that I feel that the information that the benefit advisor wrote on the form does not adequately describe the difficulties I have with the activities and from my observations the advisor seemed unfamiliar with the form stating that it was a long time since she had filled a PIP form out and usually dealt with Attendance Allowance claims. This way my dissatisfaction and concerns are lodged. I will also forward more info to Capita - what a mess!

Hello ButterRainbow and Gordon.

Firdtly let me say thank you to you ButterRainbow - your post me me smile! It's good to hear I am not the first person to encounter this situation. Firstly I did write a non confrontational letter to the charity expressing my dissatisfaction with the service I had received from them and that the PIP form lacked sufficent evidence to make a fair claim. They wrote back to me immediately acknowledging my dissapointment and said that they would consider the issues I had raised. Anyway today two things happened, Firstly a WCA assessment form arrived in the morning post to be returned by October 20th, two weeks before I get my state pension. To cut a long story short, I contacted Job Center Plus and via various phonecalls it was agreed that there was no point in having a WCA as by the time it was processed I would be weeks into retirement Phew - believe you me I just want to retire! Secondly in the afternoon I had a phone call inviting me to come for a health assessment for PIP. The charity sent the form off on September 15th though the closing date for its return date was Oct 30th. I was very surprised to get an assessment so soon, especially as I have not yet sent off any supporting evidence. The interview is for Monday and I can get some evidence together before then so I assume I should take it to the medical assessment with me. As you know, I was and am still very worried about the standard of the form filled in on my behalf and I am assuming they have called me in for an assessment so quickly because the claim is very weak and they want to know why. Any suggestions about this?