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Hi peeps
I have just had the decision on PIP that I’m going to be on standard rate for both entities.
What a blow, I scored 9 for personal care and 8 for mobility. I’m upset to say the least!
They said I can ask for a reconsideration but how does that work. Has anyone had any experience with this? I have to give up the car, I’m broken ?
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Sorry to hear this, I can’t help you but I wish you all the best with your appeal and reconsideration.
Im sure they’ll be plenty of knowledge on here
Go for Mandatory Reconsideration(it’s really rejection but they can’t call it that) as this is the 1st step and you HAVE to go this route in order to be able to appeal, once you get the rejection letter make an appointment with the Citizen’s Advice Bureau
https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/about-us/contact-us/contact-us/contact-us/
They will help you with the appeal process.
Thank you for the replies. Has anyone had their reconsideration turned on first attempt?
Ask for a reconsideration and send them a report detailing why you think their decision is wrong.
Pick each category on their assessment apart by explaining why you think they are wrong and always describe yourself on your worst day.
If the reconsideration doesnt work then you request a tribunal.
Dont forget though the mobility component of DLA is different to PIP. When PIP was introduced they made it harder to get as if you can walk over 20m even with walking aid then you dont qualify.
If you get to the tribunal level you will need advice and there is a few places you can go.
There is a very high success rate for appeals.
Thank you again for the responses. I am overwhelmed with the responses. I’ve been searching online, has anyone used the templates by advicenow.org.uk?
Its not quite as simple as being able to walk over 20m with or without an aid. To be considered as able to walk over 20m you have to be able to do it ‘Reliably’ and if you can’t do it reliably then you can’t do it at all in respect of benefit consideration.
Reliability has 4 criteria and you have to be able to satisfy all 4 criteria to be regarded as being able to carry out the activity reliably.
If you cannot satisfy any of the 4 reliability criteria then your argument is that you cannot mobilise reliably.
This link to the Independent Assessment Service (Atos) website explains this clearly :
Also see DWP’s PIP Handbook, and specifically the section titled
‘Moving around activity principals‘ :
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/personal-independence-payment-fact-sheets/pip-handbook
Good luck.
Sorry to hear your news Jim, and no words are going to make your day any brighter…
But it’s not over, not by a long way
Sure it’s a right boot in the stones today, and it leaves you feeling depressed, angry, anxious, cheated, helpless and a hundred more negative emotions
There will be lots of us who have went through the same thing and as its been pointed out the success rate for mandatory reconsiderations is very high
I’d def make an apt with your local Cab right now, as in pick up the phone and call them
Or if your local authority has a welfare rights dept they can really help you out to
But don’t struggle on alone, cos you’re not
Like the guys have said, look at what you’ve not scored points on and look to see what medical evidence you can get your hands on to support yourself when you say You can’t do this or you can’t do that
One thing I did on top of this was to write a heartfelt letter, explain your personal circumstances, where you are in life, and in detail what you just can’t do due to your conditions
Just give them your worst possible day, it’s a shame it has to be this way, but you have to play by their rules
So always give them your very worst day, you get absolutely nothing for that “oh I can struggle doing this” attitude
The guys at Cab or Welfare Rights help people through this all the time, so they will keep you right
My fingers and toes are crossed for you mate
Hi peeps I have just had the decision on PIP that I’m going to be on standard rate for both entities. What a blow, I scored 9 for personal care and 8 for mobility. I’m upset to say the least! They said I can ask for a reconsideration but how does that work. Has anyone had any experience with this? I have to give up the car, I’m broken
Do not give up. fight them. You may find the following document helpful:
https://forum.whichmobilitycar.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/pip_manrecon_april_19.pdf
Take time to read it. If you have not already, ask for copies of your pip files and go through them. Come back to us with any questions
Joss
Current car: BMW X2 sDrive 20i M Sport 5dr Step Auto In metallic Portimão Blue. 04:10:2025
Previous car:Peugeot 308 GT Premium 1.2 Pure tech Petrol.There’s a few things to take into consideration and that is, do you think what they have said in their report is correct in the way your daily disabled life effects you or do you feel they have got it wrong by saying your capable of doing something that your not and here were talking mostly about your capability to walk a reasonable distance in a reasonable time.
If its the first one its best to accept their decision and save yourself a lot of stress but if its the latter go for Mandatory Reconsideration telling them the errors of their way and at the same time ask for a copy of the assessors report because it normally here you will see the mistakes they have made.
If your going for it MR is the first step and you can do nothing more until you take that step, by the way, you may have seen the other thread around here somewhere called “PIP has anyone been turned down” and the advice in there is to get help if you’ve haven’t already gone down that road.
Best of luck and I wish you well.
I’ve known people given 0 points on their PIP assessment then given high rate for both on appeal.
obviously it doesn’t mean you will, but if you feel they got your point score wrong you have to firstly have a Mandatory reconsideration.
To do this properly you need to ask for the full assessors report ( not the award letter) you can ring them and they will post it.
look on the CAB website for samples of MR’s
Also they tell you you only have 28 days to respond, but ask for more time if you genuinely need it.
If you have no joy then an appeal is your next step.
bear in mind though sometimes they can also look at it again and give you less points, but that is rare.
Unless your condition has greatly improved I would get as much medical evidence together as you can and go all the way to appeal, you really have nothing to loose.
Spot on with the walking criteria and something else you won’t see written down anywhere but this came from a fully qualified lawyer who rang me to see if I’d mind if they used a trainee lawyer under supervision of himself at my tribunal because PIP was something new to them and they were training up new lawyers in that area but I will get back to subject.
In the phone call he asked me how far I could walk without stopping he said if you need to stop to rest or gather yourself with the likes of rebalancing yourself that distance is the distance in law of how far you can walk for example you might be abled to walk 100 metres but if you stop to rest or recompose yourself at 15 metres that is the distance you can walk as recognized in law.
Whilst not a PIP example, i’ll just tell you about my wife’s transition from Incapacity Benefit to ESA.
She was given no points whatsoever following her face to face assessment, despite having problems since birth which have steadily got worse through life leading to a cocktail of health problems, and being ill health retired at the age of just 33.
We took it to appeal tribunal and they put her into the Work Related Activity Group, I kept fighting and she ended up in the Support Group. That was 2012 and she’s still at that level now.
A real example of it being possible to go from the worst outcome to best outcome possible.
So that shows how wrong they can get it.
Its always worth fighting if you believe its wrong and can assemble sufficient supporting information to evidence your case.
Remember DWP have an interest in minimising your claim. The Tribunal Service has no axe to grind whatsoever, and if you can capably articulate and evidence your claim there’s a good chance you can pull off an improvement.
Btw if you don’t want to represent yourself at appeal or have a support service etc.
A good pip solicitor will cost you around £300 but when you consider when you win you will get the entire entitlement back dated.some people on the pip Facebook group have received more than 25k for having a long wait for an appeal date then they had interest and costs added too.
The distance you can reasonably walk is also without pain or distress.
I remember feeling guilty years ago when I was in absolute agony, but looked fit and healthy.
luckily I had MRI and scan results to show the damage.Now I’m wiser to the system now, I know how they try to analyse people, noting eye contact, how you, behave, sit and stand, picking up a bag, letter etc. They check social media accounts for activity, holiday, birthday, wedding, party pics etc.
one guy was a body builder with a web site from years ago, but now has the same condition as me, they showed him stills of him in competitions and wouldn’t believe they were taken years before, as he had uploaded them a year before from an old lap top he had.
I won’t allow then to put words in my mouth and always bring someone else along for evidence, as some of the things reported in my last assessments was just made up, had no relevance to me and even gave quotes that I hadn’t said?
But I got the max 10 year award so didn’t need to complain, but I could have if I’d needed to.
Chris my pip form was posted in post box last Wednesday do you know when I may hear something ?
Had the “Your DLA is ending” second week of August 2017, had assessment last week of September, outcome letter end of October, DLA higher rate stopped end of November , tribunal was April 2018 , won appeal and PIP higher rate back paid until November 2017.
You should get a “we got all the information we need” letter from DWP end of this week or next week and 2 or 3 weeks after that a date for the assessment.
Don’t let the buggars get you down Jim, fight back my friend. There’s so much help out there, CAB, local council advice and many more. I used https://www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/, believe me it was worth every penny, with people and guides to help you through the next stages. Please take a look, they were the reason I got through the DLA/PIP process. Can’t praise them enough. Chin up and carry on, you’ll get there.
After 10 days you ring and ask if a decision has been made and they will tell you over the phone. At the same time ask for a copy of the assessment report.
If you wait the first sign of a decision is money going in too or a lower amount then usual. Then the next day you will get an award letter in the post with your point score.
the best advice I can give you if you go to a tribunal get a disability expert with you . People say they cost to much but think how much they will save you over the years . Even better have them from the start . They don’t like them with you on medicals and have to play by the rules, good luck
Just an add on the ones I know charge £600 from start to finish and that’s coming with you and handling all the paperwork
* sigh * Try again! * note to self: check you are logged in before posting replies! :/ *
Really sorry to hear that your decision hasn’t gone your way Jim, sadly there isn’t much i can add to the good advice you’ve already been given on this thread, you really need to see the assessment report as that is what you need to argue against, so if you haven’t already done so, phone up tomorrow and ask for a copy to be sent to you.
Meanwhile, do the self test on the benefits and work website, there is a link to it on mikes thread. You need to know which descriptors you are arguing against.
Contact motability, they might be prepared to give you a couple of weeks leeway on returning your car if you intend to go through MR/appeal. There’s no guarantee they will but it’s worth a try, they can only say no.
Decisions can and have been changed at MR, mine was but sadly it doesn’t happen often enough, so you are likely to have to go to appeal.
As others have said, get help from CAB/ welfare rights at your council/ age concern if possible.
i’ve noticed a couple of points that have been made on this thread that aren’t quite right…
” You should get a “we got all the information we need” letter from DWP end of this week or next week and 2 or 3 weeks after that a date for the assessment. ”
You’ve got that the wrong way round.
Mike, in the next week or so you should get a letter from the assessment company for your area with an appointment. If the appointment isn’t convenient, you can change it but only once, so you need to discuss that with them and see if you can arrange a mutually convenient time.
After your face to face you will get a letter from the DWP to say they have all the info they need but this can take about a week or 10 days to get to you. If you have given them a mobile number, they might text you a day or two after the F2F to say they have all the info but they will send a letter out as well. Once you get the text, phone and ask for a copy of the assessment report. If you haven’t given them a mob no’ just wait a couple of days and then ring up. Do not wait until you get the letter, that is a waste of valuable time if you think you might need to put in for an MR. Once you have the report you can start putting your MR case together in anticipation of the decision letter, if you feel it necessary.
” After 10 days you ring and ask if a decision has been made and they will tell you over the phone. At the same time ask for a copy of the assessment report. ”
Do not wait 10 days before phoning for assessment report. That’s a waste of a week where you can be going through the report and putting your case together for an MR if needed.
In any case, decisions are taking upwards of 6 weeks in some areas, so you’d be very lucky to get a decision that quickly. A couple of days after the F2F is enough time for them to get the report onto their system.
Anyway Jim, good luck.
Zelda
thats not quite right either, it depends what area you are in and how busy each section is.
I rang after a week and was told don’t ask before a min 10 days, it’s longer then that in some areas.
But yes the sooner you have the report you can put together your MR if needed.
But as the OP was unsure as what the next step would be I was just making sure he got a copy of the report to use as evidence of any mistakes.
Any way like wise wise all the best and I hope the outcome is good.
Yeah that’s why I said in some areas it can be 6 weeks or more phil. Either way, one week or 6 weeks+ is time wasted, so a couple of days after the F2F is sufficient because it can take a week to get the decision letter and the clock is already ticking at that point.
( Just for readers clarity… You don’t have to wait until a decision has been made for PIP before you can ask for the report, however you do for ESA )
Sorry this may be a bit late but I went for reconsideration and was surprised that I had the face to face assessment overturned. I went through the report a few times and noted:
1. Any factual errors – There were a number.
2. Any contradictions or inconsistencies – There were a number again, including a mis-match between the assessment description and the ‘score’ awarded.
3. Any nonsensical descriptions or scores. In my case after reporting that I avoided eye contact, frequently had my eyes closed, was slow in replying and my hands shook it was then claimed I had no problem with interacting normally with people!
4. Check what ‘evidence’ the assessor had available to them – was this all the evidence that had been presented. I pointed out that either the assessor wrongly recorded the evidence that was taken into account or had ignored a couple of medical reports, a letter from my Community Psychiatric Nurse and some other reports.
If you think the assessment is wrong then do consider going down the appeals route which starts with this mandatory reconsideration. Very few have decisions overturned on this reconsideration but this allows you to go through the formal appeals process where upto 75% of applicants have the DWP decision overturned. The ministers and the DWP have produced a mess of a system which has managed to both cause massive stress to disabled people and to cost more than the system it replaced! You really shouldn’t suffer for their mistakes.
I agree Zelda it’s wasted time.
The dwp are good at that. You can ask for a copy of your report whenever you like but you’ll more then likely be told a couple of days is too soon, ring back in a week if your lucky or longer.
The report is what the final assessment is based on so you can get an idea of how many points you should get on each question.
Its a good idea to get a copy anyway for future evidence and on my part also curiosity.
Make sure you make copies of everything you send and always add your name and Ni number on the top corner of each page.
The reason why tribunals are so successful is they include actual Doctors on the panel, who will know about each condition, unlike the paramedic who did my assessment, who admitted she’d never heard of my condition before.
Some really good advice on here as always, but use one of the expert help charities or specialist solicitor as they will know the statute on every point and will point out things you may have missed.
It takes time and a lot of anxiety, but the odds are you’ll at least improve on your daily living or mobility award.
My experience of late guys.
I had my F2F on friday of last week, i got the text on monday to tell me DWP had the report, I rang ro ask for a copy of the report, they encouraged me to wait until the process has progressed more before getting that report, but did confirm I could have it if I wanted it.
I confirmed I wanted the report and they agreed to send it but not without first reading me a disclaimer that basically sets out that the report is not the only information they take into account when making the decision.
Hopefully i’ll get the report today.
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