To be delighted PIP assessments are to be face to face?

Nope. And motability cars are not ‘free’.

I see this loads in my job. Usually middle aged men who have been on these benefits for years, usually some low level mh issues or alcohol problems and you can never quite understand how they managed to get the benefits in the first place but they seem to know exactly what to say to keep it ticking over for years on end. Then you see others really struggling and they find it hard to get an award. None of it makes sense and it's such an unfair system.

If by 'playing the system all their lives' you mean claiming disability-related benefits then I am guilty as charged. I was born without eyes and with multiple joint deformities. The expenses related to my disability are considerable, both as an adult and as a child. I work full-time but, without the PIP payments I receive, I would probably be unable to remain in employment as the specialist equipment, adaptive technology and carers which PIP helps to fund and which allow me to function day-to-day would be unaffordable and getting myself washed, dressed and out of the house, let alone to my workplace, would be impossible. PIP by no means covers all of my disability related expenses so I am already worse off than someone without my disabilities earning the same wage. I know this must come as a shock to all the whinging posters on here convinced all us PIP claimants are swimming in vats of tax-payer's cash like Scrooge McDuck and leading lavish lives of unimaginable luxury!.
Also, you may wish to sit down for this revelation, I am both a lazy disabled benefits scrounger and a poor hard-working tax payer. I know, who would have believed those two things weren't mutually exclusive? Well, apart from the many posters who waste time and energy on tedious and depressing threads like this patiently trying to explain to ignorant bigots that PIP is not an out of work benefit!
How exactly would your suggestion that PIP should only be a short-lived safety net work for someone like me whose disability will not improve? The extra costs related to my disability are ongoing, I don't pay for them once and that's me sorted for the rest of my life. Unless my eyeballs magically sprout in the future, which seems highly unlikely, I will continue to need extra support to allow me to carry out basic tasks that non-disabled people take for granted.
Your charming implication that anyone who has been on PIP all their adult life is a work-shy scrounger is ignorant, inaccurate and offensive.

Sorry - yes, I agree. I worked for over twenty years as a disability outreach worker and that was my experience. For the most part the disability is genuine and the reasons why those people can’t work are many and varied, not the free choice that some people here seem to think.

No they don’t. They assess whether what you have reported is reasonable on the basis of your condition, and considering any independent medical evidence you have provided. And to do that they use their findings via assessment questions, and what they observe themselves in the time the assessment is carried out. Their findings are then translated into what the assessor considers you to be able to do during the course of a typical day, taking into account whether you can do an activity repeatedly as often as necessary, reliably, safely and within a reasonable time frame, taking into account medication needs and effects and pain/discomfort levels. Points are then awarded accordingly in each category. For that they need a working knowledge of your condition to be able to factor in whether your reported level of disability is a reasonable expectation for your condition. Assessors don’t make benefit decisions. They simply report to the DWP case manager, who is responsible for making the correct level of award.

@PaisleyGilmourStreet you obviously do care or else you wouldn't be posting diatribes against her on here. Also you are either misinformed or lying yourself as nobody gets a "free car" on benefits. How much do you even know about her health conditions and how would you know if she lied? It just sounds like you dislike her and are bitter she gets any support at all.

I agree. That's what I'm saying. That a life on benefits I can't imagine many people choosing and gaming the system instead of working

Some people have no choice. And some are caused even more disability related stress by working. It’s time the assessment process was comprehensively overhauled and made more realistic in terms of expectations. The thread is about PIP, so I do think it’s important to point out that PIP doesn’t assess the ability to work, only the degree of difficulty disability poses in everyday life and mobility capabilities.

And home assessments are only used for those who have difficulty in getting to an assessment centre. As I posted upthread, disabled people are expected to travel up to two hours to get to a centre and often when they get there, they cannot access it because they’ve been misinformed about stairs, lack of lifts, lack of suitable toilet facilities and non existent wheelchair facilities or accessible parking.

The government has already said that those with severe or lifelong disabilities not expected to improve, and who attract the high/long term levels of awards won’t have to go through formal reassessment. There will be light touch reviews via their health care teams to ensure nothing has changed.

What cure is there for learning disabilities? What is the point of putting someone through a process, which they do not understand on any level?

I absolutely do know about her and her kids…she is one of my oldest friends!

Or alternatively you don’t know everything about her or her kids, they have investigated and found her to be genuine ?

It just isn't a desirable life to live, not working

I know there's a significant element of choice. She's both intelligent and entitled, she's quite the force of nature. She's also morbidly obese, which I suspect is at the root of everything. She's a past master at what to claim health wise, and as I said has no compunction about lying/exaggerating.

I don't care in truth what she does, however it's a frustrating situation when those genuinely in need who tell the truth, without exaggerating, are often denied financial assistance on technicalities. Whilst those without that moral compass will lie and exaggerate their way to financial assistance. In fairness, I don't think it's an issue (ie malingerers in general) that can be solved.

Do you really believe that your cousin who hasn't worked in years is mentally stable or well ?

That's terrible OP. The reintroduction of face to face interviews will just be one sign of broader changes resulting in harder times to come for the ill and disabled, it is a destruction of the net

In your experience. You really shouldn't assume.

My point is, looking after someone with severe mental health problems is harder than someone with learning disabilities, because they are more articulate and irrational.

It’s easier to get residential care for DD1 (and it’s not cheap), but when DD2 is an inpatient, it’s £500 per night (considerably more).

Of all the people claiming PIP ( and i know lots) i believe that only two of them are completely genuine cases who told the full truth! One woman claims for depression, anxiety and says she cannot leave the house while claiming DLA for both kids ( undiagnosed but shes adamant they have adhd and asd). She has pictures of her and the kids all over her social media going on holiday and numerous days out etc. she has been reported twice and twice they have done absolutely nothing about it! She thinks its all a big joke!

It'll be the same story, nothing will change. Those who need a genuine safety net for a short period will get nothing, and those who've played the system for most of their lives will remain parked and on benefits.

I've got a cousin who is 48, and has been on benefits for almost 30 years. Free car too. She must have been paid about a quarter of a million in benefits over that 30 years! All because she has no compunction about telling bare faced lies regarding her health. It's people like her who need to be rooted out of the system, but instead it'll be the genuine cases who are left without.

I made a mistake! Yesterday I said that a PIP assessor had an appointment that lasted hours with a relative. This was wrong. It was actually someone who had come out from an organisation to help them complete the forms. Sorry!

So much this! I've never applied for PIP, but when I had my health assessment for capability for work, whoever it was at the end of the phone did not believe that I would go without milk for my tea rather than leave the house to buy milk.
And apparently because i can plan a train journey I'm capable of travelling. I can plan it, but wouldn't have left the house to make it!

As long as the assessors are qualified specialist consultants, doctors, psychologists, psychiatrists, etc. Not a paramedic deciding what a GP isn't qualified to speculate on.

It’s like employing a random off mumsnet to be a PIP assessor. It would be 0 points galore for claimants!

I’m sorry about your daughter. That sounds incredibly hard. Just to say though, I have not made any assumption that looking after my child would be any more difficult than looking after your own, given that I was answering a specific post that made no reference to your daughter’s disability. I was referring to what seemed like your rather blasé attitude to anxiety. Anxiety is a catch all term for so many conditions, some of which are extremely debilitating. I have an aunt (now in a care home) who, as an adult, had long periods of needing round the clock supervision due to her anxiety and the potential danger to herself associated with it. Also bouts of agoraphobia and psychosis. All due to anxiety. Not all anxiety is equal. Indeed the needs of those suffering from the serious physical conditions you mentioned aren’t all equal either. One person could need a huge amount of financial help to put them on a level playing field with others, while someone else needs nothing. My BIL has MS and is the principal of a school, coping very well. Another person with MS could be extremely debilitated because it affects everyone differently. Just like anxiety. I don’t think it is ever fair to categorise everyone in the same way just because of the name of their condition.