Hi all, I was wondering if any of you have had a pip assessment with Capita. Mine is due shortly so was hoping for some stories (good and bad). I’m super nervous. Thanks in advance
ask for a copy of the report. get help from CAB/Welfare Rights or some other agency. if you don’t get what you feel you are entitled to put in a request for mandatory reconsideration. if that fails and you decide to fight on they will arrange a tribunal. this is not as scary as it sounds. the tribunal passed my claim based on the same information that the DWP had rejected 3 times!
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Thanks Carole. I’m so nervous, starting to wonder why i ever decided to claim. Everyone I’ve spoken to has ended up going to a tribunal. Do they honestly believe we’re making this up! It’s bad enough having to cope every day with the symptoms without someone who probably doesn’t know the first thing about MS basically calling you a liar!
Hi,
Search for “Personal Independence Payment (PIP) – table of activities, descriptors and points”. This will show all the points you get for each part. This is the only guide that Capita (and the other assessors) use to determine what you score.
You can use this to assess yourself in advance, as all the questions you will be asked are based on this.
Make sure that you answer questions based on your worse days.
Questions like “Can stand and then move more than 1 metre but no more than 20 metres, either aided or unaided.” you should think of as “Can you walk 20 metres safely and repeatedly.”
If you don’t get the result the think you should, do go to tribunal. They pass around 70% that the assessors fail.
Best of luck,
Anthony
I would also like to add that at my tribunal, the 3 independent people were quite surprised to read that I was only requesting enhanced rate mobility and standard rate care.
They went through all the same evidence I had supplied a year prior to the tribunal and after 20 minutes they awarded me enhanced rate for both. They went onto explain why I should be getting the enhanced rate care and they wrote the reason in the report they detailed for both the DWP record and also for my own record shoudl I need to review it in the future.
The tribunal was the easiest and most relaxed part of the whole process. Do not worry about a tribunal, the 3 experts are there to help, they are experts and they have no motive to not give you exactly what you need.
Charlie
Charlie makes a very good point. There are three people on the tribunal panel. In my case they introduced themselves as a doctor, a Justice of the Peace and a senior member of social services.
If only the original decision makers were so highly qualified and experienced then tribunals wouldn’t be necessary.
But this government is cutting corners to save money, so we get Atos and Capita providing assessors who don’t know much about what it’s like to have a disability and nothing about MS.
Anthony
Hello Lisa
I would just like to echo what others have said. My claim was for ESA, not PIP, but a similar procedure. It’s six years now since I went through the process, ending up at an appeal tribunal. This appeal, despite being in a court room, was a very relaxed affair. There was a doctor on the panel who was friendly, knowledgeable about MS, and had spent the day before reading up on my notes; he was definitely on my side.
I received a letter the following morning to inform me that I had won my case.
Ben
Thank you all for your useful comments. I also suffer with social anxiety so the thought of having to speak to a panel of people scares me to death. I wish i hadn’t started this process now, it’s too much for my nerves to handle.