Family member awarded enhanced pip - AIBU?

Hi, I had submitted everything correctly and in a timely manner. Chased for updates constantly. They had no explanation for why it took so long and issued an apology.

This is absolutely not usual though. With a special rules claim as long as an SR1 form is submitted ( formerly known as a Ds1500 ) then the claim is processed and paid within 2-3 weeks. I have applied for PIP for hundreds of people under special rules and only in a very small handful of cases have I known the SR1 form be queried by DWP, usually where it was a Gp who had issued it and perhaps didn't have full understanding of the criteria. I'm sorry it happened in your case but just don't want people to think this happens a lot. With the correct form it's usually very straightforward. They often pay enhanced rate mobility too with little to no checks, just on the basis of the form and applicant answering a few questions.

This is the problem. In every round of welfare reform it’s always the genuine claimants who come off worst from tightening of eligibility and assessment criteria - especially the most severely disabled because they are the ones who cost the most and are the most visible as such. In recent years there has been a disconnect with these conditions and some disabled people are given the runaround in the hope that they will give up and not reapply or go as far as tribunal. It’s benefit savings by the back door.

I think it’s time for a full scale review of what does and doesn’t qualify as a ‘disability’. Low level and temporary conditions never used to qualify for DLA. I think with the introduction of PIP it was high time that mental health, sensory and cognitive conditions were included, as they were mostly ruled out for adult DLA, but there needs to be a wide ranging rethink because in supporting a myriad of lower level needs, we’re in danger of not being able to properly support those people with life affecting/changing levels of disability.

This

And this is the crux of it.

In all my professional experience of PIP, many people who should be in receipt of it had a battle to get it and others didn't.

And PIP claims are now out of control and it needs review.

But I don't know how to weed out the people who need it from the ones who don't so inevitably, some genuine claimants will suffer from reform which is very much needed.

I get adult disability payment and I can hardly function most of the time. I suffer from dizziness, migraines, insomnia, chronic pain etc. It is hard for me to concentrate for long. I push myself until I can’t function anymore, i am prone to burn out. I see 2 mental health workers each week if I’m well enough or it’s a phone call. I can’t go out anywhere and I don’t have friends but I spend the money on books when I can concentrate on them, plants, and craft hobbies for my mental health. I also see a tutor about once every 2 weeks as I didn’t get qualifications from being home schooled and I will eventually be working from home. If I spent money on help around the house, I would have nothing left and I would just exist and lose my will to live.

I’m sorry this happened

It’s not easy to claim. As someone who submitted a claim for someone with a terminal diagnosis (which is supposed to fast track the claim), they still had to run a lot of checks with the GP/other professionals and the first and only payment wasn’t made until after they passed away.

Apologies . I'd missed that she is already on pip

This is not meant as criticism at all, just clarification. You can’t have been claiming PIP for fifteen years because it was only rolled out to replace DLA in 2013 - 11 years ago.

I suspect that before that you were claiming DLA or child DLA, depending on your age. So at some point you would have had to fill in a PIP application form at the point of migration from one benefit to the other. The eligibility for PlP is completely different from DLA but if you were in receipt of long term DLA it’s possible that there was enough existing medical evidence to support your PIP claim - especially if you have a permanent condition which is unlikely to change. But l think it’s important to point out that that would not be most people’s experience, as at the time PIP was rolled out 90% of claimants underwent a face to face assessment - the only way to avoid that at the time, was to present robust supporting evidence with the claim.

And with respect, even with a long term or open ended award for the more severe/stable conditions, DWP do make periodic checks to ensure nothing has changed. You likely wouldn’t know they had happened if they are ‘light touch’ reviews - they may write to or phone your nominated healthcare providers or there could just be a paper review by a DWP assessor. They wouldn’t necessarily contact you directly unless they needed more information.

And l take issue a bit with this statement ”It's crazy someone deaf, blind, suffering paralysis, unable to move muscle, feeding tube, catheter, hoisted, no capacity, the works, get the same as someone who can walk & needs help having a washing”. PiP is based on the cost of living with a disability and different disabilities affect people in different ways. It’s unfair to compare the effects of different conditions in this way, because each person will have different needs and that will affect their individual costs. As has been said often here, what you see on the surface is very rarely all there is. Disabled people face enough judgement as the result of ignorance from those who don’t have a disability, without having to face the similar attitudes from those who do.

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

PIP is an odd thing. Some people really struggled to get it. Others sail through. You don't need a diagnosis, just needs that match the criteria & will last over six months.

I've had PIP more of my life than not, from my early teens. I know that peoples conditions vary & mental health can also qualify but I do not believe the large increase in numbers claiming.

I've not had to provide evidence for 15 years now, I offer in but it's never been requested. I check.
I know others have had the same treatment, yet some who fail & have to appeal.

People who cheat, lie, exaggerate needs for PIP or carers allowance should be ashamed. I & others don't have the luxury of switching our issues on & off. There are real everyday costs to disability & the money provided doesn't go far enough when you look at care fee's & equipment.

Those with the highest costs should receive the most money. I also think people need to remember there has to be a cut off somewhere & not getting PIP doesn't mean a person isnt disabled, just not enough for/failed by the system.

It's crazy someone deaf, blind, suffering paralysis, unable to move muscle, feeding tube, catheter, hoisted, no capacity, the works, get the same as someone who can walk & needs help having a washing.

I know I'm not giving the best example but disability varys so much more than three payment levels, disabled but no PIP, standard PIP, or enhanced PIP.

I'd have no issue reporting suspected cheats, but my threshold would be quite high, eg someone admitted it as you rarely know another's life.

I know someone who broke a toe when she fell off a table whilst dancing. She claims PIP, and is sometimes in a wheelchair or on crutches.

She has a fluctuating condition, which means sometimes she can walk, and sometimes she can't.

Yet, on here, she will be considered a fraud.

So I'm a liar?

I really don't believe all these tales about someone who gets full PIP then laughs about it and performs somersaults while skiing on one leg singing Barcelona.

I simply don't.

I also find it really interesting that some of those who object to the Motability scheme don’t object to the PiP mobility component actually being paid to disabled people. That’s really strange considering that the mobility component is the only cost to the taxpayer involved in leasing a car on the scheme. Motability is a charity, and after handing over the mobility allowance to pay for the lease period, which covers maintenance, servicing and insurance, all other costs are covered by either the claimant or by way of means tested grants and allowances from Motability themselves. So it’s of no consequence to the tax payer whether the claimant uses the allowance to join the scheme or not.

I think some posters have no concept of what living as a disabled person means, and little idea of how the scheme works or of how much independence it offers to those with severe mobility problems. And the plain fact is, they just don’t like the fact that disabled people can get what they see as a ‘free car’. I do wonder how many of them would take up the offer of the ‘free car’ if they also had to take on the disability that goes with it. I suspect not many.

The ‘planning and following a journey’ category is where those with mental health, sensory and cognitive disorders are assessed if they are applying solely on those grounds with no other physical disability. And the descriptors set a very high bar. The only way to achieve an enhanced award solely on these grounds is the descriptor 1f - ‘cannot follow the route of a familiar journey without another person, orientation device or assistance dog’. The descriptor can only be satisfied by a very high level of disability, and covers severe forms of conditions like ASD spectrum disorders, some learning and cognitive disabilities, sensory disabilities like deafness and blindness and severe mental health conditions, including psychosis, schizophrenia, Bipolar disorder and BPD’s, to name a few.

Yes.
A thread to have a go at disabled people, yet again.The people who are moaning, if they think it’s so easy, why don’t they claim it themselves!

I find it interesting those who have posted objecting to the motability scheme haven’t answered whether they also object to Family Fund (who provide a similar service to those under 3 and therefore not eligible for the motability scheme).

It also shows ignorance as the types of disability that can qualify you for a Blue Badge. People think it is just people in wheelchairs.

My best friend has photophobia. She has a BB for it, but her DH has a little 2 seater sporty car. She has a BB because she has to be as close to the buildings as possible to avoid the sun.

I’ve posted a bit upthread about the invalid cars. Next time someone makes this kind of comment tell them that those vehicles were ableist and discriminatory and wouldn’t get past the Equality Act 2010 now. They isolated disabled people because they were only single seaters and they readily identified drivers as disabled.

They were also totally unreliable and dangerous - I know because I drove one from the age of 16 until the mobility allowance was introduced. They had motorbike controls and the accelerator cables used to snap regularly leaving you stranded. They had sliding doors which regularly came off the runners, and if you took a corner at more than five miles an hour they tipped over. It was illegal to drive them on the motorways. And I’ve heard of at least two people who had them spontaneously combust after parking up !!

This thread has been an eye opener. All those people who commented from the point of view of the cost of disability benefits to the tax payer - I wonder whether they’ve stopped to think how much it cost way back when it was common for disabled people to be ‘institutionalised’. If that were still the case, I’ll wager that it would cost a fair bit more than the provision of the disability benefits paid today.

Sometimes I think people would like disabled people to still have invacars,infact somebody on a thread I was on said they worked in the past so why not ,I asked him how it would work for disabled children when it's the parents that drive the car ,he didn't have an answer

That’s the kind of ableist nonsense disabled people are up against every day. And some of the myths surrounding the provision of cars for the disabled via Motability don’t help. The envy is palpable, but no-one stops to consider whether they want the disability that qualifies you to use the scheme. I drive a small SUV because I’m a wheelchair user and there has to be space for the chair and the hoist - l also do better seated a bit higher up, which an SUV does. The number of times I’ve pulled into a disabled space and been challenged even before I’ve turned the engine off !!

On one hilarious occasion the nosy git who challenged me was sounding off about how I didn’t look disabled (how disabled can you look sitting behind the wheel !!). She was in the throes of demanding to see the badge as my wheelchair descended on the drivers side from the top box on the roof. I left her open mouthed and speechless when I got into the chair, asked her ‘how disabled do I look now ?’ and wheeled off !!

Before the days of mobility allowance, disabled people used to be issued with little blue one seater three wheel ‘invalid carriages’. We’ve moved on considerably since then, but when I read threads like this, I get the distinct impression that some people would like to see a return to those days.

I was in a supermarket recently, and overheard someone telling the security guard about a car in the disabled bay. He said the car was displaying a badge but "was not the sort of car a disabled person would have", whatever the fuck that means.

Really clear, thank you.