Going back to the thread title, I was turned down going from DLA to PIP. I went from the higher rate of DLA mobility to 2 points on PIP, funnily though I was one point short on the care component having never had any care component on DLA. The mandatory reconciliation was a waste of time, so I went to appeal.
The RAF Benevolent Fund allocated me an advocate for the appeal so she did all the work for me and came along to the appeal. The appeal was successful but it took around 8 months to take place. The advocate got me the lower care component so in the end it all worked out for the best. I did lose my car but got the £2000 transition payment which became the deposit for my current car, luckily I was due a large pension increase so knew I could afford payments on a nearly new car, always hoping that I would be successful at appeal. Now I’m waiting for the letter to drop through the door again and I dread having to go through the process again.
Believe it or not it’s the second time this happened to me. The first time was a standard DLA review. This was back when ATOS first took over, if you remember some of the stories back then of assessors driving up to houses, taking pictures to show they were there, then driving off without seeing the claimant to write up a false assessment at home. Anyway the doctor actually came to the house, I greeted him at the door, shook his hand with my LEFT hand and escorted him into the living room. A brief 10 minute chat took place and he left. A week or so later I got a call from the DWP asking if I’d been for an operation or some treatment at the hospital recently, I said no but before I could ask why the other end of the phone went dead. The next day I got a letter from Motability saying I had to return my two month old car. I called the DWP on the Monday morning to be told I was losing my DLA so I started the MR. When I got a copy of the assessment it stated in two boxes that I “could sit, STAND and CLIMB on the sofa” ????? The assessor also wrote I was left handed, that’s because I had to shake hands with my left hand as my right hand was in my crutch. Other things were mentioned including I must do a lot of walking because of the callous’ on my feet. The doctor did ask me to take my slippers off during the “assessment” but at no time did my socks come off to see any callous, nor did I have any anyway. In the end the MR was successful I even got a written apology from ATOS and an acknowledgement that the doctor was reprimanded. I did find out later that he had a number of complaints against him.