I carry out PIP assessments - AMA

[PIPnamechanged]

The disclaimer:

I changed my name for this.

I can’t tell you why your claim was declined, or if you’ll be accepted with a particular condition.

I can’t comment on individual claims or look you up on the system on Monday.

I won’t bother with any “how do you sleep at night?” comments as they’re just inflammatory.

I’ve done the job for around 8 years, so covered the job in pre and post-pandemic times. Work full time, 9-5 and I’m a nurse by profession.

My part of the job is the actual consultation.

Ask away!

username082087369 And this is disgusting. How darey the make you feel scared of living your life? This fear, even when it's been awarded is another way to make disabled people feel 'less'.
Why should anyone have to spend their lives proving they are unwell? Yes, review in a certain amount of time but don't make people feel so bloody terrified. It's all so wrong

I think (and i'm only an ordinary Mum so hope our expert here can correct if i have got this wrong) that when your ds is coming up 16, you can apply to be his appointee.

That means you will be there to answer on his behalf, can take dwp phone calls and also fill out all forms.

This is what i did for my son. It was an easy process.

Is each renewal looked at like a new claim as well or if someone has already been awarded does it mean you take certain things as read rather than having to look for additional up to date evidence. My son is almost 16 and we’ll have plenty of evidence when he first applies as he has ehcp and is in specialist school but when he older it’s just going to be my word as outside support is very thin on the ground in our area

https://pcls.org.uk/planning-the-future-for-children-and-young-adults-who-may-never-achieve-capacity/#

The above link is not wholly relevant to everyone on this thread - but for those of you with disabled young people aged 15/16ish.

As well as some of you needing to apply for DWP appointee - bank accounts and medical appts can become a nightmare once your young person turns 16.

The above link has a podcast - 3 podcasts actually - about all the things you need to be thinking about once your child turns 16.

Open the link and select "latest"

The podcasts are there.

This is a Scottish link and guardianship is different in England (i forget the name of what you have there)

Not every young person needs guardianship. Often appointee is enough.

But the podcasts are worth a listen for anyone with a child this age because they explain so well the difficulties you might come up against. And what to do!!

I don’t understand why it’s considered that a nurse is qualified to make these life changing decisions. Applicants deserve assessment by a consultant level specialist.

This. It is obvious though that a lot depends on the person you have assessing your claim/ assessment. The system needs urgent reform imo. The current system is not fit for purpose.

No I mean if an autistic person is on PIP for 10 years and it comes up for review, why are so many being downgraded for the award even though nothing has changed.

Thank you. PIP "themselves" have been very nice but things I've seen in the news, and all the stories you hear about people who literally can't walk being awarded lower rate or even 0 for mobility, send me into a panic.

I guess I feel like being on the higher rate for both components now means I should have no life at all. For example, a few months ago I started going to a yoga class with a friend, which wasn't easy, but I managed it and now I go most weeks. But I only managed to go because my friend was there, it's a small class, and it's rural, so I can drive there door to door and don't have to encounter people on the way. I still feel very anxious in the lead up to going, but I push myself hard not to cancel because I know not pushing myself to do things will make it worse and I'll end up with full-blown agoraphobia again (not to mention spending the rest of the day beating myself up). I can't do all the positions because I might get pain during a particular movement, so they're modified for me or I sit them out. But the whole time I'm thinking, OMG, what if there's an undercover PIP person in the room and I'm going to end up in the paper. Which is just awful isn't it.

If he gets awarded PIP when he turns 16, then all claims after that are classed as renewals and the assessor will have access to the previous documents. The DLA stuff will all fall away once he gets PIP, and at his first PIP assessment, he’ll be treated like a new claim.

I’d keep a copy of the EHCP and any other relevant info, as it never hurts to send again and we don’t know what changes may happen to the benefit system down the line.

All correct! ☺️

Applicants often have detailed diagnoses from consultants so no further assessments should be needed, but nurses are given power to override them.

Ubertomusic · Today 11:35

MrsSkylerWhite · Today 11:18
I don’t understand why it’s considered that a nurse is qualified to make these life changing decisions. Applicants deserve assessment by a consultant level specialist.
**
Applicants often have detailed diagnoses from consultants so no further assessments should be needed, but nurses are given power to override them.

Thats outrageous.

This is more to do with how the media are portraying some cases of people, who are in receipt of PIP, not the actual process of claiming it. It will have a knock on effect on some people, who no doubt will worry themselves, to their own detriment.

A nurse doesn’t make the desciions, they carry out the assessment from an outside private organisation…..the report is then passed back to the DWP who make the final decision.
a consultant wouldn’t be able to make a better decision …..why would you think this?

A diagnosis doesn’t show what you can and can’t do…..and that’s what pip is about

I’m waiting on my PIP renewal. I was one of the first ones to be transferred over from DLA. My assessor was lovely, and my rate stayed the same, but the whole thing was far more stressful than it should have been.

They have been told I will never get better by my consultant but I’m still reviewed, this time it was 7yrs owing to Covid. I sent in 499 pages of medical evidence with my form in January.

My award runs out in December but they have told me it will be extended for a year while they get round to looking at it sometime next year, My blue badge runs out in December too, so I had to re-apply for that under the other rules, fortunately that was successful. The whole process is ludicrous and could be a lot more efficient if they listened to the medical professionals who know us best.

So should doctors get advice on what to write to help people with their claims?

My question is linked to this. My dd was asked during a phone call assessment (which took 2 1/2 hours, which was exhausting for me with no conditions, but especially so for my dd) 6 times which shoulder she had pain in (she has CRPS in various areas and limbs and the shoulder one was a newer area). It felt as if the assessor was trying to catch her out.

Also, she was asked several times, hypothetically is she didn't have her condition what could she do? I did get quite cross with this, as hypothetically she could do anything without her pain. Apparently it is a question they need to ask, though it has never been asked before.

I am with both my dds for their assessments so I have seen a lot during their appointments. It's a good job that I am as an assessor did lie in their report which led to my youngest dd getting her PIP taken away! They said she got her paperwork out of her bag on the back of her wheelchair and that she got herself to the appointment and into the room by herself, neither which was true. My dh drove her there & got her chair out of the car, and I wheeled her into the room as she couldn't (she has JIA) and I had the paperwork in my bag which I handed to her.

DWP medical assessments used to be done by doctors as they should be. It was changed to nurses, paramedics, physios to save money.

Even so, it’s the DWP assessor who makes the decision who has no medical training at all.

The doctors I work with simply hand any pip enquiries over to us (allied profession) they simply don't have the time.

The process should be as simple as stress free as possible, so people actually know what to write and how to explain the effect their conditions have on their lives.

The forms are deliberately made unhelpful and difficult - my view having done probably over a 100 in the last few years.

The reviews are awful. People in tears waiting for the calls, knowing they have to, again talk about their lives and give up hugely personal and traumatic information that they have probably had to do many times before. And yes, it is important to see if things have changed, but do it in a kinder way, perhaps.

It's a wholly inhuman system. And, as said, upthread, made out to be simple and easy to claim. 'My m8s cousins wife gets it and goes on olideee 8 times a year'.

This country just hates disabled people

It’s not the job of consultants and GPs to write reports for the DWP and they don’t have time.

This is the kafkaesque catch 22 of the system: the DWP require medical reports as supporting evidence, but doctors don’t expect to write the kind of reports the DWP want. If applicants are lucky they may get a doctor or therapist willing to write in support of a claim but it’s pot luck.

Even the nurse OP writing this thread doesn’t seem to realise that doctors are reluctant to provide the kind of reports she values.

There needs to be much more joined up and humane thinking for the benefits system for sick and disabled people.

Pip isn't about disabilities it's not because based on the questions I reckon there some disabilities that you would get 0 points. Uts about how it affects you so it's how you write the answers

The diagnosis can clearly show the autistic person has a severe social impairment, and it's for life. A nurse cannot override a PhD neuropsychologist's decision and award 0 points for social difficulties. It's bonkers.

Ditto an OT diagnosis can show in minute detail what the person can or cannot do in senso-motor coordination including the speed of writing for example or inability to coordinate certain movements. I repeat - in minute detail, timed and measured during a comprehensive assessment. The diagnoses are often 10 pages long, you have more than enough info there.

It's a huge waste of public money and resources to subject people holding diagnoses from PhD level med professionals to re-assessments by much lower qualified health workers. But it's done on purpose to reduce the social security benefits bill to the gov - the third party companies and assessors are happy to take a chunk of that "profit", effectively starving disabled people. I'm not accusing OP, they seem a decent person, but the system itself is an absolute nightmare.

I thought Labour would change that torturing of people who suffer enough already, but it looks like they're as horrible as Tory.

I thought Labour would change that torturing of people who suffer enough already, but it looks like they're as horrible as Tory.

We have no idea at this point in time, what Labour's plans are, regarding PIP. I hope that they have some, and will unveil them soon.

My son’s diagnosis letter was literally two short lines, basically just said he was diagnosed with autism but had no detail whatsoever. We didn’t get any reports from the diagnosis process and didn’t have an mdt meeting either.