Family member awarded enhanced pip - AIBU?

I’m not surprised people exaggerate because it’s so very difficult to qualify for that even people who throughly deserve it by any reasonable person’s assessment are refused. That’s why so many refusals are over turned at tribunal.

Yes there are people that genuinely don’t deserve it, but on the flip side I know a few who do 100% deserve it and have been refused several times so don’t bother again because the process is so dehumanising and gruelling.

It’s not so clear cut. The DWP will do everything in their power to prevent paying out, making up lies and twisting people’s words, making them out to be a fraud when they are no such thing!

Yes, that's true, thank you.

Must clearly be for mental health issues then ?

My hairdresser has managed to claim pip. She is literally on her feet all day and goes to the gym three times a week. She spent the whole of my last three hour appointment telling another person in the salon how to answer the questions to get the right result.

So it might be that they can't leave the house without someone to assist them. Which would meet the criteria for a PIP award.

Not when you’re talking about mental health conditions. Some people are so severely affected by their mental health that it causes overwhelming agoraphobic distress. If this applies for at least 50% of the time, then they would qualify for some level of award.

Is the DWP naive, then? The rate of PIP fraud is so low, the DWP have recorded it as 0%.

Is the DWP naive, then? The rate of PIP fraud is so low, the DWP have recorded it as 0%.

@HelpMePlease32 how do you get enhanced mobility though? I was told it is for when you can't walk the length of a bus unaided.

OMG no I don’t! I am saying that if people say they are unable to leave the house without it causing them overwhelming distress then it would be unusual for that person to go on holiday!

You’re missing the point. For the purposes of PIP, if the medical evidence of the condition doesn’t support what the claimant is saying, then benefit won’t be awarded. If a MH professional can’t verify that what the claimant says is true, then they shouldn’t support it. But if the likelihood is that the condition means what they say is likely to be true at least 50% of the time, then it’s likely they would qualify for some level of award. I don’t think many people realise how high the bar is set to qualify for PIP solely on MH grounds.

This is exactly my experience. Some people have to fight so hard to get what they should get, others i am totally baffled how they ever get awarded. I have seen one person openly lie to a PIP tribunal about her mobility.

Ah. So you don't know about their condition or how it affects them.

Actually shame on you for judging either of them with nothing more to go on than the opinion of a busybody. Unless you live with someone 24 hours a day and are fully aware of all the effects of their disability, familiar with their medical evidence, and know the details of their claim for benefit, you have absolutely no way of knowing whether it’s genuine or not. The likelihood is that all this person has done, is describe how things are on their worst days - something that DWP encourage all claimants to do.

Exactly. People can tell their health care professionals anything and loads of things cannot be proven. Neither health care professionals or the DWP can monitor people over a period of time. This is why the system is so open to abuse. There are loads of conditions mental and physical where things can never be proven. I think people are very naive if they think there is zero levels of fraud.

My son is disabled and had his PIP taken away before christmas. We had to take then to court to get it reinstated and if we hadn't been there to support him and fight for him he would have been screwed because 1 he couldn't afford to live and 2 he wouldn't have been able to fight it himself.

It really upset me when a friend has a blue badge, gets enhanced pip but is able to have a normal life, holidays, shopping, days out, nights out partying.

I don't understand how some people get things handed to them so easily and those in need have to fight for it.

It really isn't nonsense. I'm a mental health nurse. I and my nursing and medical colleagues are regularly asked to provide statements to support, amongst other things, PIP. Now if a patient told me that they were unable to leave the house, I'd look at the entire picture; their history, their current presentation, lots of things. But in reality, I have no way of proving whether or not they are unable to leave the house or if they have left the house recently. I have to take their word for it. I can't park up outside their house 24/7 and spy on them to see if they are remaining confined to their home.

You do realise that when someone reports suspected benefit fraud there are always consequences ? More and more the DWP stop benefit first and ask questions later, so you are potentially subjecting someone who is doing nothing wrong to financial hardship while they are investigated.

I have bad anxiety and OCD and I go days without being able to leave the house and other days I can but it is almost never alone. I get enhanced mobility.

If what you are saying is true, then she is stealing. And it makes you just as bad for not reporting it. You are condoning it. What would you do if you saw a pickpocket stealing a purse from someone’s handbag? Let it go would you? Just because you don’t see a victim doesn’t mean nobody suffers for her crime. You’re just as bad as her. Shame on you.

PIP isn’t an out of work benefit. It’s universal and intended to assist with the cost of living with a disability. Nothing to do with being unemployed.

@Rosscameasdoody I was merely responding to a PP, a benefits advisor like yourself, who said that many people state they are unable to leave the house and then when she rings them they are out and about or on holiday. It would be unusual to go on holiday if just leaving the house caused you overwhelming distress. But you of course know best.

Exactly. The descriptor implies a substantial level of support on days when they do feel able to leave the house. I really don’t understand why so many people keep posting when it’s clear they don’t know the first thing about how PIP is awarded.

So you admit you know nothing about their condition then ? To secure benefit at this level for this descriptor there has to be a substantial level of impairment, which goes far beyond ‘anxious, and is supported by actual medical evidence. The DWP decision makers aren’t medically qualified and rely on medical evidence to get it right. If there is the slightest doubt, benefit will be refused. The level of actual knowledge on this thread about how PIP awards are actually decided is severely lacking.

No, they haven’t. They’ve stated that they can’t leave the house without overwhelming distress, and that they need substantial support from another person in order to be able to do so. And to secure a PIP award on this descriptor they would have to provide evidence to support it. Fifteen years as a disability benefit support worker, and I’ve never yet seen someone secure an award of this nature without incontrovertible evidence to support it. This is just more whataboutery.