The very first letter came back in October to say DLA is ending time for your PIP, boy. After the various telephone calls, form filling, evidence gathering, the ATOS nurse came out on 9/1. I had seen people like Sue recommending to get the a copy of the ATOS report so I thought I would call up and give that a go.
A few days later a ‘brown envelope’ arrived. A copy of the report? Nope. It was the decision letter saying you’ve got it and we will leave you alone for the next 10 years!
Hurray! They seemed to love my full 24 hour 4 A4 page ‘Day in the life of an MS person.’ Shows them how tough this condition really is for me in a full day.
brilliant news, I was stressing over the fact Capita would do my assessment, they have received really bad press. Hopeful they will understand MS. I too am planning an essay, as we all know, we can all write a book on this “lovely” illness!
Yes all done and dusted for 10 years - unless they change it again!
Your certainly right about it being worth it. Unfortunately, there are too many scarey stories in the press about ESA, DLA and PIP. In my own experience I have never had a problem.
I was aware of the descriptors - as that is what they are looking at. I completed a full very detailed 24hr diary of all my actions during the day on what I was doing, how I was doing it, failing it, fatigue levels,balance, walking (stumbling) & distance etc. It was my life from getting out of bed to going to bed. This was sent with neuro letters & form. Plus I had a nice ATOS nurse assessment.
Just finished my claim. Photocopied it all (that was a job and a half), put it in a big envelope, addressed it, sealed and ready to be sent on Monday (recorded delivery of course).
Woohoo. So happy it’s done. It’s been in my mind non stop for weeks. Now I just have to worry about the decision.
Hoping for the full award for 10 years. Not too much to ask for?
Just finished my claim. Photocopied it all (that was a job and a half), put it in a big envelope, addressed it, sealed and ready to be sent on Monday (recorded delivery of course).
Woohoo. So happy it’s done. It’s been in my mind non stop for weeks. Now I just have to worry about the decision.
Hoping for the full award for 10 years. Not too much to ask for?
Sue
[/quote] Good luck Sue, it seemz a nail biting time but, you will be fine, promise!!
Actually I was thinking about this earlier. Once I’d managed to put it down, seal the envelope and say goodbye to it for a few weeks (months?).
The biggest problems I have with the form are
It’s layout when compared to the Activities and Descriptors. You expect to find a whole load of tick boxes, i.e. that apply to each descriptor rather than just a couple of choices. Makes things quite hard, especially with the first activity, cooking. Instead of the tick boxes being appropriate to the descriptors, they ask you if you use aids and appliances and the next question is about assistance. But there are a wide variety of in between descriptors. So it’s unclear whether to tick ‘No’ for aids and appliances when you don’t use them because you don’t cook. And that theme follows through, although that’s the worst example.
Possibly more of a problem is that I was expecting the form to start with a section about ones health and disability. Instead, there’s a box to write what’s wrong with you and when it started. Then you go straight into the Activities. This leads you to miss things out and assume they know things that they don’t because you’ve not been able to tell them. The only option is to tell them at the end of the form in Q15, the ‘More information’ bit.
I got around this by accident really. I was writing notes for my GP, to help her if she’s approached for a report. And I ended up structuring that in a way that changed my mind about what I’d put in the more info bit. I listed each of my main symptoms (walking, core, hands, bladder and bowels, etc) and under each heading I detailed what was wrong with me and then related each symptom back to the Activities that were affected. A sort of backwards approach to it. So in a way I kind of told them what was wrong with me twice.
I have no idea what the result of my claim will be. If they take my word for what’s wrong and accept the evidence I’ve provided, possibly with the addition of a report from my GP, I should automatically get enhanced for both living and mobility. I have no worries about mobility (if you can’t walk then you can’t!) but I may be called for assessment if they feel the Daily Living stuff is iffy.
One thing I did do, that I’m not sure if it’s recommended by http://www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/ for example, but I put in a list of all my attachments. So if they manage to ‘lose’ anything, there’s a record of what I’ve sent them. I.e. list of health professionals, repeat prescriptions, my typed answers to the questions (because I can’t really hand write anymore), some photos (e.g. of the bathroom) and the copy letters I’d sent (from neuro, physio, urologist, colorectal surgeon, bowel and bladder nurse, neuro-psychologist).
Blimey, I feel like my life has been taken over for weeks.
Keeping fingers firmly crossed and hoping to forget about it for a while. Best of luck to you all who are going through it now and yet to do battle with the beast.
