I had a Home Visit last year and was really, really worried. But on the day it couldn’t have been less stressful. My chap was a paramedic. DH answered the door, ushered him into the sittingroom, offered tea/coffee and then left us to it (as I had asked). I sat in my armchair on my extra deep cushion with V-cushion behind for the whole time. I put all my pills and potions in a transparent box ant the end of the sofa (“I don’t know what you want to see”) and we just chatted.
We discussed my limited mobility issues regarding walking, standing and how I can no longer sit on firm surfaces (M.S. & Spinal Damage), and then I mentioned in passing that reconstruction surgery from when I had a mastectomy 4 years and reconstructive surgery 2 years ago has also left me with reduced mobility in my arms, which made washing myself etc. difficult. When I said “I know that cancer doesn’t count” he said “Oh yes it does if it’s affected your mobility!” and gave me 2 extra points for it!
I ended with Higher Mobility and Lower Care, when I was expecting to drop to Lower Mobility and No Care.
My older brother has psudoachondroplasia and his body’s pretty much collapsing now. He was terrified of losing his car but they gave him Higher Rate for Mobility and Higher Rate for Care, which is what he needs.
BUT (and I cannot stress this enough) we both provided tons and tons of supporting evidence when we returned the original PIP Assessment Form. I called it the ‘Information Bomb’. The DWP only know what you tell them. They are not psychic. There’s no such thing as too much information.