Has arrived. I’ve gone over it several times and can’t get my head around half of the questions. I’ve joined B&W and I’m still stuck.
Is there a place to go to get help with this form?
thank you for any ideas.
lynn xxx
Ah yes, the dreaded brown envelope, I remember it well. Fear not Lynn, you should find help readily available at the CAB. Give them a call first, you may need to book an appointment, my local office has a benefits officer who deals with this. There may even be other lvountary organisations in your area that can help you, the CAB will know if there are.
Good luck
Ben
Hi Lynn
Ben is right, if you can, get a CAB welfare benefits advisor to help. Meanwhile, try reading the info on the CAB website: Personal Independence Payment - Citizens Advice
It’s probably written in less detail than the B&W guides so you may find it a bit easier to get your head round. Once you understand the basics, you may find that the B&W guide is easier to read.
Have a look at: https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/Global/Migrated_Documents/adviceguide/pip-9-table-of-activities-descriptors-and-points.pdf as well. Again from the CAB, you can work out where you fit within each Activity so can work on describing how you fulfill the appropriate descriptors, with appropriate examples.
Even if you have a CAB advisor to help you, they won’t have hours and hours to spare, so have a think about where you fit into the Activities before your appointment (assuming you can get one).
At this point you should also start gathering evidence to support your claim. These don’t have to be letters specifically written for the PIP claim, they can be copy letters sent to your GP (and cc’d to you). These should back up what you are saying. If you don’t have any suitable letters to include with your claim, think about who you can get one (or two) from, e.g. your MS nurse, a physiotherapist, your GP (although you should be aware that GPs don’t always understand the PIP system so their letters aren’t always very useful), an occupational therapist or a care plan from the local council if you have one.
Whether you have help or not, don’t forget to photocopy your form and send it recorded delivery to arrive in plenty of time before the due date.
Sue
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Me & my daughter went through every question 1 by 1 & she typed all the answers & saved them so things can be added if you forget something. Most of them read like an essay, PJday advised me on this method. Sue has also mentioned as much evidence as you can get, past treatment letters, pending appointments, anything to do with your treatment & care, if you get in touch with the people looking after you now, they should send all your info in time. The lady I had from the CAB office only needed to print out my answers & look over them & she sent them with my form, just make sure you put your name, NI & question no you are answering. I also peeled off my drug boxes the labels & stuck them to paper & photocopied them, much easier than writing them out & they can see the dates on them. As everyone else has said, give them your worst days, how symptoms make it difficult to perform tasks & mobilize & are you safe doing it repeatedly. I am still awaiting news of mine, although I have been told they have received it. Fingers crossed for all of us waiting. Good luck Tracey x
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Oh crikey. I guess you knew it would plop through your letter box one day. Same here, every time Postman Pat skulks by, i wonder if he’s bringing mine.
You have had lots of great advice, so good luck chuck!
Pollsx
good luck
it’s ridiculous having to go through this.
the stress is killing me, even though i always advocate not letting myself get stressed.
you wait for the form to arrive, spent many tortuous hours filling it in, send it off.
then wait anxiously for the verdict.
it comes back as a fail.
so you request a mandatory reconsideration.
then you are told you have to go to a tribunal.
so it’s massive stress/ don’t let it get to you/ another massive stress/ don’t let it get to you/ yet another massive stress and so on.
stress is known to be a killer so maybe that’s their plan - kill us all off and think of how much money they’ll save.
stuff 'em i’m going nowhere!
i’m making a great effort to clean up my language which is getting extremely bad.
but just one last time. faff off you tory twats.
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A similar trick to using the labels is to copy the repeat prescription form.
Printed onto A4, you can identify what each item is for with an arrow and a short note.
I would suggest that you make copies of all the evidence, and only send the copies (I do not trust officialdom to keep anything safe), and if you do have to appeal, then you can show that the evidence was supplied in the beginning.
Geoff
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Agreed. And the PIP forms do ask for photocopies of documents. So keep the originals and send them the copies. It’s unusual this, because with most benefits these days they want originals (because it’s possible to alter a copy).
Sue
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Hi I had the brown envelope of doom,I done my best to fill it in but the pressure got to much and was told by a very nice lady who happened to work at a job centre about a local charity called D.A.R.T I took it to them and they was fantastic,search the internet near you I hope you have the same luck I had
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I’ve just looked up DART, it stands for Disabled Advice Resource Team. It seems that there are several of these in various places around the country. A quick search throws up Calderdale, Cardiff, Cheshire and Birmingham. If you need benefits advice help try searching on DART benefits advice uk plus your area. (If you just search on DART you get a load of US transport systems plus a few random businesses, nothing useful!)
Good to know.
Sue
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