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!

Two questions plase:
As you have said, I agree that DWP rarely (if ever) contact medics for reports yet most gp practices are adamant that they will be contacted if evidence is required and refuse to write a supporting letter on patient request even if the patient is willing to pay.
How has this misunderstanding come about and who can correct it?
Regarding driving, you have agreed that an applicant who drives will be scored lower as assumptions are made that 2 plus 2 equals 5 and driving means ability in other areas. How does this equate with motability cars which are funded by enhanced level PIP?
If driving means you are not disabled enough to deserve PIP how can anyone ever have a motability car unless it is for somebody else to drive on their behalf?

Oh. They never paid ME!

But only on authorised equipment. They don't make it easy.

Basically, why do most of you lie? And don't say you(or your collegques) don't. I've been helping people with pip for years now, and probably one out of ten refusals actually tells the truth when we get the decision back.

It's despicable

I am currently waiting for three of my patients to go to appeal as I'm not letting them be treated like this anymore. It will be stressful and awful for them but why should they be told they're not unwell by some jumped up unqualified ex nurse/ physiotherapist/'health professional' when they and I actually know the truth.

Why do most assessors lie? Do they get some kind of sick kick out of it?
Dont say that doesn't happen, its well known to be true.

I’m confused by the idea that driving would exclude you from PIP. I can see it implies a level of cognitive and physical ability but anyone driving their own motability car must have enhanced rate pip (for mobility) so there are obviously many many driving disabled.

Our experience of applying for PIP at 16 was good. Everything was done by paper/phone and we were treated well. My dc won’t be recovering from his conditions and I do find the process deeply upsetting and see no benefit for him, his carers or the country in having to repeat the process. Is there some way you can request to be granted an indefinite award if it doesn’t happen automatically?

Is the pay good? I thought it was only equivalent of top band 5/ bottom band 6?

I know a fair bit about Rheumatology - although RA is a long term condition, it can have periods of flare and remission. NICE guidelines say the goal is full remission, so it’s not unreasonable that this particular condition is reviewed every 3 years.

OP my post has got lost so a specific question- would it help to specify things PIP money could help with? For example - I desperately need therapy. NHS wait has been over a year already and will be more months. There’s private therapy at £45 a session which I can’t afford. Should I specify ‘I am on the waiting list for therapy and if I got PIP I would use the money for private therapy’ - as in be specific about why I need it?

I just don't understand why decisions can override specialists at the time they saw her not only did she have osteo and psoriatic, COPD and needing heart surgery that she couldn't have because she couldn't be put under general. I'm sure although you ignore your quota others don't and the appeal system leaves people begging for food and sitting in the cold and dark getting a back date doesn't rectify that.

No question but if you’re the lovely lady who assessed me in Torquay last year, I was awarded standard care. It’s meant I could reduce my hours at work. Thanks for being kind. I could see you were asking questions to find ways of giving me points.

As an aside, I spent ages researching before I applied and it seems to me that some people focus too much on their conditions and not enough on how their lives are affected. I was lucky with my assessor.

I felt the same. My assessor understood my condition (multiple sclerosis). I was trying to be very positive about things at the time but she very gently steered me into admitting just how badly I was affected in spite of my refusal to 'give up'.

How sad that you must be 'lucky' with your assessor to get what you actually, rightfully need, when ALL of them should as a basic, be able to do their jobs with understanding and empathy.

Are verbal abuse and personal attacks okay then if the person is expecting it?

What evidence did you supply? My son will be coming up to 16 in next year or so and he still needs what you mention plus can’t go anywhere independently so sounds similar to yours. He has had ehcp for years and is in specialist autism school but if he was interviewed by an assessor he would almost certainly say that he could cook his own meals for example, as he can do cooking but needs a lot of supervision and preparation but I don’t think he’d recognise that he needed this he’d just see that he can cook.

Yeah I was dreading it, from what I’d read on Facebook groups etc. I felt like she’d try to catch me out, but she didn’t.

Something I remember reading was say you get asked can you cook a simple meal.

If you say “Yes, but I need supervision and assistance.” the assessors hears ‘Yes’.

if you say “No I can’t, unless my partner/mother etc stands there and watches me…” the assessor hears ‘No’.

Subtle, but significant difference.

My young adult is unable to advocate for themselves effectively. Would he apply for and fill in the PIP forms on his own? If not, then get yourself assessed as his supporter (the proper term has gone out of my head) and then you can fill in the forms on his behalf and make sure the info is accurate.

Evidence - I sent in his EHCP, a letter from his supported internship on why they couldn't place him in work, and his old diagnosis letter. Oh and he had been assessed by adult social care and I noted that but that I didn't yet have a report (but that he would qualify for PA support).

My son was diagnosed with asd age 6 and we were discharged from paediatrician on diagnosis, we were later turned down from cahms as they said issues related to currently diagnosed autism. Mine does have an ehcp and is in specialist school but once he finishes school we will be in receipt of no services. We were turned down for social services short breaks help as it’s assessed on family as a whole and he was accessing activities in the community which I take him to to they said we didn’t qualify. His current school finishes at 16 and I’m currently trying to find a suitable placement but I’m not holding out much hope so he’ll most likely be out of school and at home from 16 meaning I’ll have to give up my full time job or at least go part time. At the minute we have all the evidence from school but how long will this be accepted as evidence for pip when we don’t have any other evidence due to difficulties with obtaining other services

but the child gets to an age where they are no longer going to school and for asd services are fairly non existent depending on area as there is no treatment that can be given as such, would you look back and see that the person went to a specialist school 5 or 10 years ago and that effects the decision or is it a case thst once they are out of school it’s just based on existing evidence?

I agree with this. I've been helping a friend to apply on behalf of her severely autistic and completely dependent adult son. She has been rejected twice now and both times the assessor lied outright and described meeting the son and how he behaved. They never met him, let alone spoke to him as he's not capable and his mum is his advocate. The whole reports were a complete fabrication. It's absolutely outrageous and these people should not be doing the job. Tribunal next. The stress for them has been horrific.

Will try and get back to more questions later today.

For those asking why we “all” lie, how do you expect me to speak for someone else? Remember that we don’t all work together and I have never even met 90% of others who do the job. It’s like me asking you why the guy who works for the same company but in a different office from you cheated on his wife.

From glancing over the thread, I think some people are unaware that there are things that aren’t considered when it comes to PIP.

For example, with eating - quality of diet, the times of day you eat and how much you eat from a meal are not something we look at. For dressing - wearing mismatched or uncoordinated clothing isn’t considered. For toileting - not getting to the toilet on time because of your pain/mobility issues isn’t considered. For reading - a lack of education isn’t considered in the absence of a learning disability. For money - income or lack thereof isn’t considered. Using Satnav isn’t either. Lots of things that people expect, aren’t addressed because the DWP don't award benefit for them.

I've been in receipt of PIP for quite a few years now and my experience has mostly been very positive.

I had my review recently with a very nice assessor. When I received my decision letter a few weeks later I was astonished to see I'd been bumped up in the mobility category and awarded more than previously.

When I looked at the breakdown, I saw that I'd been awarded more points in the category about leaving the house causing severe psychiatric distress, or words to that effect. As well as a painful physical condition, I've suffered from agoraphobia, anxiety and depression in varying degrees throughout my whole life and going out anywhere can be very difficult.

Ironically, being awarded the higher rate has increased my anxiety about going out as I'm paranoid I'm going to be filmed by investigators! I saw a name and shame article in a paper about a woman with MS who was secretly filmed running on several occasions which really scared me, as I thought PIP was based on how you are, on average, more than 50% of the time and she had RRMS. I don't go out running, but some days are better than others and I might be able to go for a short walk locally or get in my car and go for a longer walk somewhere isolated. On good weeks I might manage to make it out the house 3-4 times, although one of these is my weekly therapy appointment and another could be meeting my CPN.

In winter I generally feel more able to go out because there's fewer people around, so on a "very good" week (but often difficult in other ways) I might manage to go for a short walk locally for 5 days out of 7. But then the next week I might feel floored and not be able to go out at all. OTOH I find summer very difficult and probably spend 70% of it hiding.

Because of the fluctuations I feel really uneasy about it. It doesn't help that I also have quite severe OCD so it goes round and round in my head, and I worry I didn't discuss the "good" days in enough detail. Do you have any advice for me? Should I write to them to them to try to reiterate this?

Once you’ve given evidence at 16 , you won’t be asked for it again at review…..my nephew is similar and he didn’t provide any further evidence after 18 ( when he left school) …..the key to pip is a well completed form …..keep focused on the descriptors….that’s all the assessors are interested in…..and that’s all you can get points from……… remember that if you can’t do a task 50% of the time, in a safe, reliable, consistent and timely matter….then the answer is no…..give real life examples…..don’t say…..if he tried this then this would happen……say, when he tried this, this is what happened.
my nephew is now 26….his last review was paper based so he didn’t even get an assessment …..and that I am a
most certain is due to the detail my SIL put in the review document.

That is ridiculous. And one of the things i was worried about had my ds been called for f2f. He is really trying his hardest now to give full answers to everything and, unless he is pushed a bit further, he can appear much more able than he is.

He is excellent at retaining info with not a lot of comprehension of what it means. So, for eg, one question he was asked for his capacity assessment was "what are you going to do if you're in the house alone and suddenly feel the worst pain ever in your tummy?"

And he came up with what appeared to be good answers.

Answer one "call the doctor"

Psychiatrist "have you ever called a doctor before? How would you do that?"

Ds " ummmmm. Ok no. I will take a tablet"

Psych " what will you take"

Ds "paracetamol"

Psych "ok. So you have taken that and it doesn't work. Now what?"

By pushing ds on, he fast unravelled and the psych could see ds appear anxious and struggling.

Whereas his first "call the dr" answer was said boldly. I can imagine someone not as astute saying "oh, good answer, yes that's what i would do, too"

And a big tick there!

Benefits and Work is an incredibly informative site. A small fee lets you onto their forums and download their guides with the pip descriptors and how points are awarded.

The forums have some folks with expert advice. I can't remember the join fed but well worth it.

the example i give there is not from a pip assessment. He had his capacity assessed for a legal guardianship which is a seperate thing. He had a paper based award for pip