PIP Process

Thanks for posting this Belle. It does sound like they are complete gits as employers. Sorry you’ve had to give up such a fulfilling and rewarding job (not!!)

I’m glad you’ve reiterated again that the more evidence a person supplies the better. I’m absolutely convinced that the way to get the right award is to approach the whole thing in a cooperative manner. As opposed to a combative way. In this way, what you are essentially doing is taking the assessor by the hand and gently walking him/her through your life. Demonstrating how your disability / condition affects you, with reference all the way through to, A) their descriptors and B) the evidence you are supplying.

Don’t forget that letters from carers can also be included as part of your evidence, not just medical professionals and care plans. Plus photos of your home showing the equipment you use to get by in life.

And good luck to everyone who applies, take it slowly, get help if you can, make sure you read through your answers and most important, PHOTOCOPY YOUR COMPLETED FORM AND ALL THE EVIDENCE YOU SEND.

Sue

Sounds as though it went OK.

Keep an eye on your bank account in a few months time, that’s how I found out!!

Let us know the outcome, we all support each other good times and bad.

Jen x

Yes Sue,

you are right evidence is very important if you can get it. Also don’t send in the originals unless specifically told to do so, send in the copies.The reason for this is that when the post is opened at the mail handling unit everything is scanned manually piece by piece onto the computer system and the paperwork, unless it is ‘valuables’ i.e passports,birth certificates,home office documents will not be returned to you-it will be destroyed. With regard to verification documents (passports etc as previously mentioned) These do have to be original and will be returned immediately after scanning however I would recommend taking them to the local benefit office and asking that they make a copy,certify that they have seen sight of the original amd get them to send the copy to us. That way you are not surrendering a valuable item to the mercies of the postal system!!! Yes Sue the tip to photocopy your PIP2 is a valuable one too. Due to the magnitude of post received they do go missing sometimes and this saves time and heartache!

I would also advise utilising the enquiry line…it is what it’s there for! If you haven’t received your PIP2 claim form 2 weeks after making your application check to make sure it has gone out and again 2 weeks after you have sent it in check to see that it has been received. Because they are on the ‘coal face’ so to speak and deal with real people day in day out you will find that most of the people on the enquiry line are really nice and genuinely want to help you.When you ring aside from checking what you ask they will spot if anything is amiss and will make sure that this gets addressed (even though they might not say to you ‘this should have gone off to the AP and hasn’t’ as soon as they get off the phone they will email the case manager to flag it up.They can’t speed things up as everyone has to be treated equally but they can make sure that nothing is holding it back.

Again once your claim has gone to the AP if you have not received an appointment after 6 weeks phone the enquiry line who can give you the telephone number to ring to see if they are going to invite you for an assessment (they are not allowed to give you the number before 6 weeks) Then once you have had the assessment, if you haven’t heard ring again. They will be able to advise if the AP report has been received,if the decision has been made they will be able to tell you and if the AP report hasn’t been received they will be able to make sure that the case manager is aware that the assessment has taken place.

Again i reiterate that they cannot speed up the process or get a decision made for you but they are invaluable for making sure things are proceeding as they should be so use them.

Good Luck

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Belle69

What about Access to Work, couldn’t they help?

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/access-to-work-factsheet/access-to-work-factsheet-for-customers

Fay

Unfortunately not-

"Civil service and government agency employees

If you are employed by ministerial government departments, including the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) or one of its agencies, your department will pay for your support"

The irony is that my ‘support’ would have cost nothing.All i wanted was to reduce my hrs from 37 to 24 and obviously as my wages would be reduced I would be the one that would lose out financially,not them, which I was more than prepared to do. Lots of my colleagues already worked reduced hrs but they were on different contracts.They said that they couldn’t reduce my hrs due to business needs but to try again when I had a diagnosis.My Union was with me all the way so I feel confident .we tried everything we could.At the end of the day they didn’t accommodate me because their own legislation covers their backs…if I had had a diagnosis they would have been forced to reduce my hours!

So you haven’t had two MS relapses yet - and the three tests done: MRI, lumber puncture and evoked potentials?

Couldn’t you be off sick with fatigue until you get a diagnosis?

Fay

Hi Belle, I think it was wrong of your employers to refuse your request to reduce your hours. Not having a diagnosis shouldnt have barred you from this, as long as you had medical documentation to show you were been investigated for medical problems.

I cant believe the very people we look to to check our benefit entitlement judged you in this way.

Thankyou for explaining how the system works with PIP claims.

I am yet to be invited to transfer from DLA to PIP.

pollsx

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I could have done and to be honest my husband really thought that I should have done just that but I wanted to be honest. I didn’t need to be off sick, just to reduce my hours.

I have had an MRI which shows areas of high signal and am awaiting a lumbar puncture.I think I have had 2 maybe 3 ‘relapses’,the first last May(although I have had lots of unexplained symptoms prior to that) and then this last one from Feb until approx 2 months ago when I started to feel better.Still got lots of weird symptoms but the debiliating fatique (I was literally going to work and coming home to sleep) has eased somewhat and I feel a lot more normal (whatever normal is) than I did!

Anyway it’s happened and I can either bleat about it or get on with it and I choose the latter so onwards and upwards!

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Hi Belle, thanks for your informative description & knowledge to help those of us in the midst of changes from DLA to PIP. I’m not expecting a decision until Sept/Oct.

The Capita Assessor told me it’d be 2 - 8 weeks for the DWP Decision Makers to notify me.

Polls, thankfully the waiting of the transfer from DLA to PIP won’t affect us financially. DLA is paid right up to the date that PIP begins.

Belle, it beggars belief that a Gov’t Dept wouldn’t even consider reducing your hours. Onwards and Upwards is a great mantra. Positive thinking is certainly key, good luck.

Chrissie xx

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Hi all…

I have just returned to the forum after quite a few years absence… I have been reading through the PIP posts, why is it all so difficult and puts so much stress on people making a genuine claim? I really think it is a post code lottery the support, treatment and care we receive. My experience with PIP was a little strange …

I was receiving DLA middle rate care and high rate mobility. I did some research online and read horror stories about people who had had it reduced or even stopped…so yes I was worried . I contacted my GP and MS nurse and let them know they would be contacted. My date for the assessment was booked on the Thursday, as it happened I had a doctors appointment on the Monday and a hospital appointment on the Wednesday the same week. To my utter amazement neither of them had been contacted to give a report on my health !! now I was really really worried !!!

In my meeting I asked the assessor why my GP or Nurse had not been contacted to which I was given the answer ‘we don’t always contact them’ …WHAT!!!

I went home in a panic and researched the appeals process and waited …

Only 2 weeks later received a letter awarding me Enhanced rate care and mobility … I really don’ t understand how the system is so different for people.

Oh and the assessor even gave me details of a web site to get an upgrade on my wheelchair.

Your diagnosis route sounds like mine. It took me over 10 years to get the stamp on my file last february 2016, the black stamp banged down on my notes PPMS. I had a sandwhich of tests the last one got me the stamp. You will get there, and working for the civil service is pants i used to many years ago in one of my life times.

Keep strong the LP was one test that muddied my waters and made it take longer, the VEP tests were the ones that finally fot me the diagnosis. xxx

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The one thing i will say is EVIDENCE lots of it, get support from neuro and GP prior to applying. My friends husband put his PIP in and gave nothing, just answered hap-hazard and was turned down, yet I know how ill he is, he had meningitis and went from healthy to crippled and also had a big heart op, which slowed him down more, he is doubly incontinent and needs a support worker to change his bags etc, and his form was rubbish. His care worker helped but did not fill it in or send in evidence, they have tons of it. When i went to see him after he was turned down for both, the stuff he had honestly i was spitting feathers, he had so much evidence about how his illness affects his life, they never sent any in. Its now gone to tribunial but they have heard nothing for weeks. I am so glad i had my form flled in from aged concern the lady was dwp and she was amazing. I dont think they do it now though. Shame as if you are disabled its hard to complete these forms.

After you have had your assessment and you are waiting for your decision, you can get a pretty good idea of what it will be by ringing up and asking for a copy of the assessor’s report. You are entitled go it as of right and it contains the descriptor scores they have given you. The final decision is - of course - not made by the assessor but, in the vast majority of cases, the decision maker follows them.

You can get the report as soon as the assessor sends it - which is usually within just 48 hours - so you are not waiting weeks in limbo waiting for your claim to make it to the top of decision maker’s pile of claims. You will either be saved weeks of worry or - if it looks like it’s going to be against you - you have earned yourself valuable extra time to work out a killer application for a mandatory reassessment/appeal.

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Generally speaking, the assessors don’t nowadays contact your GP, neuro, MS nurse, or in fact anyone. The onus is on the individual claimant to provide relevant evidence of what they are saying. Once the assessor looks at the claim, they could theoretically contact your GP for e.g., if they have questions related to that evidence. But a proactive automatic request for info is not the norm.

Sue

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PIP ASSESSORS WEED YOU OUT EARLY IF YOU HAVE DOCUMENTS

I agree with Sue, there is the assumption that if you are sick and disabled you will have had recent contact with many

NHS healthcare professionals for both your social care and mobility needs. You will have had home adaptations etc.,.

So care plans, OT, physio and Wheelchair Services reports should be readily available to send with your PIP application.

Providing these recent reports is a good way of avoiding the need for an assessment by ATOS because you have already been

assessed by the NHS.

So be organised - make sure your NHS paperwork is up-to-date related to your care and mobility needs before you apply for

PIP.

Fay

YIPPEE, at last I’ve had a lengthy letter telling me I have the enhanced rate for Mobility and enhanced rate for Care on an ‘ongoing’ basis, so I assume this means no specific time restriction.

Obviously, we’d all prefer to be ineligible by NOT having PPMS & it’s ever increasing challenges but at least we can pay people to help us or take us out etc.

The process from stage 1 of the application took 16 weeks. Thanks to all for your reassurances.

Chrissie x

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That’s good news. I’m still awaiting the decision for my PIP assessment.

Brilliant news Chrissie. Well done for getting through it.

Lets hope for lots more positive outcomes.

Sue

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altogether now… hurrahhhhhhh! pollsx

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