well after making my application on 25th may today i have a decision and its a yes!!!
i have been awarded standard rate for both i’m in shock i was fully prepared to be turned down, it was not as bad an experience as i thought it would be i had heard a mandatory reconsideration was the norm, i may not have a diagnosis yet but at least someone recognised i am struggling.
Yayyyyyy! Fab news and what a worry off your mind.
Great, simply great!
pollx
ps my turn somewhen
hope you get your answer soon and its positive, still cant quite believe i haven’t had to appeal to get it after reading all the horror stories
When i went for DLA ages and ages ago i wasnt diagnosed even though the doctor from DWP came to see me, she said funny enough i would be amazed if you didnt have MS. I think if you are ill your ill, and they see that. I never read horror stories, as every story is different. I was told the same when i went for DLA, i was told you wont get it if you dont have a diagnosis and yet if got it fine.
I am really pleased for you, now see if you can get diagnosed, it took me 10 years lol. x
Just to add weight to Crazy`s reply.
I also got DLA, years before I had a diagnosis!
Not been through the PIP process yet…but it will come, sure as eggs is eggs!
pollx
Yes i am waiting for that plop on the mat which aint my cat pooping again lol…might as well be.
If i dont get it, i will just go for AA before they stop that too lol.
My mantra is just stay calm, if i cant change it why worry about it lol. So if we get the envelopes same time, we can help each other fill it in lol. xxxxxxxx
Hi all I had my assessment for pip by a counsellor. I haven’t had the official letter yet but when I rang I’ve been told that I’m not getting any mobility allowance so my car will have to go back. I’m truly devastated as I couldn’t get around without my car. I was told I only scored 4 points which is totally wrong. Apart from my m.s I have back problems and incontinence and need help constant . My care component has dropped also. I am under a psychologist also because of depression. I try so hard and was devastated to give up my job as a nurse and feel this system is so wrong. I am so stressed out by all this to the point of being sick I don’t know what to do and I’m worrying now that they will take my car if reconsideration takes longer than 6 weeks. Feel so miserable.
Hi Jules
I’m really sorry to hear this. Did you have help completing the forms?
Whatever the answer, get some help if possible with the reconsideration. Try your local CAB or if there’s another welfare rights advice service in your area, use them.
If you can’t get any expert help, make sure you understand the rules, if you haven’t already, consider joining http://www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/ or look at the CAB guide to PIP: Personal Independence Payment - Citizens Advice in particular, you need to know the points system, how many points you get for each activity. This is the table showing the points awarded for each activity, you score the highest amount for each individual activity and the total is added together for each component: https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/Global/Migrated_Documents/adviceguide/pip-9-table-of-activities-descriptors-and-points.pdf
Make sure you request reconsideration within the time given, send any documentary evidence you have, get someone who’s opinion you trust to read your letter, photocopy your letter and any documents and post it recorded delivery.
If your reconsideration is also turned down (or you are awarded for e.g. standard rate mobility but think you qualify for enhanced rate) then appeal against the decision, again getting help, etc as above.
Sue
Hi thanks for your reply. I didn’t get help with the forms the second time because my first lot of forms were supposedly lost and I couldn’t get an appointment with cab in time to get the second lot of forms done. The assessor has clearly not listened to my responses regarding my mobility as I only scored 4points which should have been 20 plus. It’s just got me so upset that I have to have all this stress and worry. If I didn’t have my car my life wouldn’t be worth living
Jules
Try again to get help from the CAB for your reassessment. I think you probably do need help to get your head round the various rules and where & how you score points for the two components.
Sue
i got a letter last week “inviting” me to apply for PIP
i must phone the number before 13th november.
i tried on 3 separate occasions but was left waiting for an operator for 2 or 3 hours.
my bladder couldn’t cope and i had to leave the phone to get changed into dry pants!
now there’s only 2 days left.
i reckon they devise these strategies to make us give up the will to ,live!
altogether now - AAAAARRGGGH!!!
Do you mean before 13th October Carole? If you did mean November than you have a few more days yet.
Regardless, AAaaarrrrrrggggghhhhh in sympathy. (And a certain amount of dread as mine will come eventually!)
Sue
I’ve just received a copy of my report this morning. It is totally contradictory to everything I said. She believed that I could do this and that…the counsellor that assessed me that obviously knows nothing about m.s. I’ve never slept last night worrying about it. They playing with people’s lives and you cartainly aren’t looked at as an individual. The assessor stated that I was of average build and had had good education and I was polite,… Education has nothing to do with anything and why should I not be polite??still fuming feel like I’m getting nowhere. Tried cab . No appointments.now need a letter from m.s nurse. Why don’t they get all information from relevant health professionals before they assess you, I’ve already given them lots of documentation and letters from my g.p…so so so stressed
For motorbility:
Can you do these things: safely, reliably, repeatedly?
11 f. Cannot follow the route of a familiar journey without another person, an assistance dog or an orientation aid. 12 points
12 e. Can stand and then move more than 1 metre but no more than 20 metres, either aided or unaided. 12 points
For Q11 “I cannot follow a familiar journey without another person to take me in the car or push me in my wheelchair…”
For Q12 - if you have a history of falls documented by your GP or MS Nurse it would give you evidence that you cannot walk
20 metres - safely, reliably, or repeatedly.
Take the test and list examples why you cannot do these things: safely, reliably, repeatedly.
But, you do have MS and will get worse - the next relapse might mean you can no longer do things safely, reliably, or repeatedly - even though the DWP may think you can do them at the moment. In which case - you just reapply for PIP again and present more evidence from your GP. At some point in the future you will get your car back.
Good luck!
It should be called ‘Dependence Allowance’.
Do you have help with everyday living?
The DWP seem to mark people down if they don’t have carers driving you - helping you in and out of the bath/car and into a wheel chair.
The extra cash is to pay for their time - we need to prove we are dependent upon others - not prove we are independent.
In this sense think PIP is a semantic trap.
Hi Carole,
I’ve sent my PIP form off - now they are asking for more info from my GP. I found it helpful to read this:
A DWP guidance document for providers carrying out assessments for Personal Independence Payment Sept 2016
And the older:
Atos Health Care Professionals Training Manual
Good luck.
Please take note, the first link is up to date and relates to PIP medical assessments. It is intended for use by DWP employees and contractors. It is 164 pages long, so may be more information than most people can handle.
The second link is out of date (2011) and relates to ESA only, specifically the Work Capability Assessment.
Sue
Yes i agree i did the PIP test on work and benefits, and its all geared to people helping you. Weirdly enough though there is money out there independently for care worker i.e. direct payments so perhaps they all need to get together and work out what they are doing.
I thought the idea of the care and mobility components was to enable you to purchase help to get around and have some kind of assistance. I have cleaner, dog walker, gardener, laundry lady, and a personal care worker who gives me a shower and washes my hair twice a week, which i pay for out of my DLA.
I hate being dependant on others but without their help i would be stuffed basically.
At least with ‘Disability Living Allowance’ - the title of the benefit was clear and unambiguous.
I mean, when we are over 65yrs, we will move to ‘Attendance Allowance’ - it is like PIP - meets the same needs - but with a different name - why??
So my question is: why have a misleading title ‘Personal Independence Payment’ - when in reality - it is an Attendance Allowance for the under 65s??
It is shocking what they are doing. My report said that she believed I had full use of my limbs…after my muscloskeleton assessment…which was sat in a chair rotated my ankle and lift my hands above my head which I couldn’t manage at the time. Apparently I should have been checked on hip rotation balance etc so how can someone be assessed. It is getting so stressful worrying about finances loss of car how I’m going to get out and trying to get as much info together from healthcare workers. I’ve spent more time on the phone and Internet. When I has my assessment my husband signed a form to say he had handed documents from the hospital, letter from go and ct scan results in. I have not got these back??. Aren’t they supposed to return them.