PIP supporting evidence

Hi, I am currently completing a PIP AR1 form. I met my social worker who is going to write a supporting letter for me. I have an appointment with my doctor on wednesday. I wanted to ask you if it is likely that my doctor will be able to write me a supporting letter and whether I should ask for this when I go in on wednesday? Could you advise me on what I should say to my doctor and what sort of information I should be looking to obtain from them to go with my AR1 form? Are there any other people I should be looking to approach for supporting evidence? Many thanks for your advice.

Hi David, thanks for your advice. I saw my GP and they wrote a letter which lists my 4 diagnosed mental health related conditions and focuses on the 4 activities which I previously scored points for. I had a conversation with a CAB adviser earlier this week and that led me to think that I should be scoring points in more activities. For example i really struggle to leave the house without significant distress and mostly avoid going out but last time i had a review i scored 0 points for the activity of planning and following a route to a new place.

I am concerned that my gp letter is too narrowly focused only on the activities I scored points for last time and that this might have a negative effect on my chance of scoring points for other activities. i am, therefore, trying to book another appointment with my gp to try to get the letter rewritten and have a broader focus including more areas which i need support with. it is unfortunately difficult to get an appointment and i only have just over 2 weeks until my form needs to be returned. could you advise me on whether i am right in trying to get a new letter from my gp with this broader focus?

i am meeting with the social worker next week. They wrote a letter for me which lists my conditions but doesn't mention any activities that I scored points on last time or that i may score points on this time. when i meet them should i ask if they could update the letter to include more comments relating to the activities which i may score points for? i had a care plan when i was last reviewed for pip but this hasn't been updated since. should i ask them if they could update this so i can send it with my form? i need support but at the moment i am not getting it and have been closed to their service for over a year despite my support needs.

Can i ask family members such as my father to write me a supporting letter? Will this help my chances of a successful review? Thanks again.

Hi David, I have already received one extension to my original return date. Is it feasible that I could get another extension if I explain clearly my reasons for needing one?

Is there a specific guide to the AR1 form? I received an award last time I did a review and the form said PIP.1043 on the cover page. The points I scored were based on needing to be prompted around various daily living activities. I feel I need more than prompting for a lot of activities, I actually need in person support, but I am not currently receiving this support. The AR1 asks "do you need prompting" and "what do they do for you and how often". It also asks "do you need help from another person" and "what help do you need and how often do you need it". This is much more specific than the last form I filled in and I am really unsure how to go about asking them because they are so specific. If there are certain activities where I am not receiving regular prompting (even though I need it) would I have less chance of scoring points for these activities versus activities where I do get more regular prompting? Are there any guides on the site which specifically help with these questions?

I have space for 4 contacts at the start of the form. I've put the GP and social worker. I've had physio for an ongoing physical problem but I haven't had treatment for a while due to a misunderstanding on my part (I thought I had to wait 6 months before asking my GP for another physio referral). I was thinking of putting the physio as one of the contacts but as its been 6 months since I saw them is it still reasonable to have that person as a contact? Would it be better if I put the physiotherapy centre itself as opposed to the therapist I saw? I'm thinking of putting my dad as a contact as well. Do you think the assessors will want to get in touch with my contacts and would this be by phone or email?