Hello, I had the letter a few days ago. Applied roughly 2nd March. Assessment 19th August. Received the letter on the 29th September. I wasn't expecting the decision to be made so soon.

I'm happy that I have good news. I got awarded the standard rate of daily living, no mobility. From March 2014 till Feb 2017. That's a result I never expected to receive. It should help me with my health a lot. I felt quite emotional about it on the day I received the letter and cried a while. I understand it's rare PIP's awarded without being denied first, then having to appeal? The whole process was incredably stressful, especially the assessment itself.

Worth noting is that I was unable to collect much evidence because of conditional aspects; this was something I constantly had to underscore during the assessment. I was awarded PIP without having a doctor's medical letter, medical records, psychiatric notes to hand. [Also mentioned that when I finally got enough in me to ask my GP that she said she prefers to be asked directly.] I did hand over whatever I could find that seemed appropriate, but also detailed my personal notes about very severe symptoms/thoughts etc, which I felt uncomfortable discussing in front of my representative. I was uncomfortable discussing suicidal/violent ideation, for example, in front of others, so I put my thoughts onto paper and handed those over.

I think it's also worth noting that I have a paper trail with Rethink Mental Illness [recovery worker said she'd vouch for me, etc], have formerly been treated for depression, and am on the waiting list for proper mental health care with the local wellbeing service. Had I not been, I don't think I'd have been approved.

I guess this shows it's worth applying? Especially for someone like me where you can struggle to organise evidence.

Finally, I used the guide from Benefits and Work, and had magnificant help from other people. I'm very grateful to everyone here. Thank you.

Safekeeping

Congratulations on your award and thank you for the notes about your claim, I am sure that other members will find them very useful.

Gordon

Thanks Gordon.

I forgot to note in the original post, but since it should be useful as a gauge, I was awarded standard rate care for daily living.

I scored 8 points for Daily Living, 2 for each of the following:

Preparing food
Dressing and Undressing
Engaging With Other People Face To Face
Making Budgeting Decisions