Im a PIP assessor - AMA

[pipfs]

Im a regstered nurse and have worked for PIP for a few years. I work in this role due to my personal health, i could not longer stand for 12 hours to do ward based work, i could no longer travel for the requirements of community. The jobs market when my health took a turn for nursing was limited, i had my own family to support, my options were very limited.

I do not do assessment via phone or in a clinic. That is not my role. I check claims as they come in, and will send to phone, clinic, or both where appropriate. If they are not suitable for asssessment, i will try everything i can to avoid an assessment, try to gather the evidence from health care providers, schools, social care, support contacts, appointees etc, and i write them as what is know as a paper based report. Some do end up having to go to assessment despite my efforts.

95% of claim reports i write, get awarded. Over 2/3 of reports i write get an enhanced/enhanced award. Half of the reports that i write are for 16 year old transitioning from DLA to PIP. Followed by cancers on active treatments, significant mental health, following a stroke, condition or incident where they are fully reliant on other people for their care, and cases where an attempted assessment has failed. But the transitioning cases build up the majority of my case load on an avergae week

I fully understand the frustrations and limitations of the system, i fully underand the stigma that comes from being an assessor, and how these reports can at times, be written. However the area of pip i work in is very claimant centered due to the nature of the cases we write, and i spend hours ensuring that these people, the people who cannot attend an assessment because of their health restrictions, get the support they require. It is a rewarding role.

So if anyone has any questions regarding the transistioning process, or in general, i am happy to answer where i can.

I've just had the letter from DLA saying my 15 yr old DS will be asked if he wants to claim for PIP when he turns 16 at the start of next March. He is deaf and has ADHD. He's clever but has absolutely no sense at all when it comes to life matters and, due to a combination of ADHD and deafness is very young and naive for his age. He is chronically disorganised, cannot follow instructions, loses items ALL the time, cannot recall information, has a slow processing speed, no sense of time, doesn't understand money, is impetuous, adventurous and has no sense of danger - a combination particularly scary for a Mum. He wanders out in the snow with a tshirt on and simply would not think to put a coat on. It takes hours of our time to keep him organised, on track and where he needs to be. BUT... He thinks he is absolutely fine and INSISTS he is exactly like any other kid his age. He gets very angry and anxious if I point out his 'disabilities' so God knows how an assessment is going to go. In the meantime, what reasons should I give on this form to apply to be his appointee please?

Exactly what you’ve written here (disorganised, doesn’t understand money, difficulty following instructions, etc) - but you might struggle with PIP as you’ll need his co-operation to get a claim through.

Lots of parents who are appointees are being told that PIP assessors won’t take their word and will insist on talking to the young person directly.

Would he be open to revisiting the subject of his disability with you? What would happen if you asked him how he’d cope without you doing X, Y, Z to provide support? Is he planning on A-levels and uni? We’ve always talked about it in terms of support needs rather than disability per se - I tell my DC that they might have extra support needs in some areas but that their conditions make them better at other things. (I’m also AuDHD and my neurodivergence can be a real asset at times while being incredibly disabling at others). Could you frame it as ensuring that he gets the financial support that he might need later on - I suspect things are going to get even harder for PIP claimants who are neurodivergent so I wouldn’t be sure how easy it would be to drop back into the system later if he does start to really struggle. I have twins who have both just turned 16 so I completely appreciate the stress. I still think 16 is too young for PIP and it shouldn’t start until age 18!

Thank you Spiders, that's very helpful. DS was bullied at primary school for being 'different' and went through a very difficult time with his mental health and feelings of isolation as a result. Since then we have worked hard to bolster his confidence and praise his creative achievements, never focusing on his limitations. The result is a teen who doesn't see himself as different from anyone else which is what we want of course - but it sounds like that means he's going to lose the financial support he absolutely needs as he does actually require a lot of scaffolding in school and here at home to help him 'do' life. It is a very stressful situation. Totally agree with you that it should be 18. Plus DS is a good 2-3 years behind his peers in terms of maturity so there's no way he could manage this by himself yet!

This is exactly the situation with my DS! I've just sent off his PIP forms 😬. Luckily the head/SENCO of his special school is extremely supportive and wrote a really good statement for me to send as additional evidence, detailing how much additional support he really does need and laying out very clearly that his ability to hold fairly sophisticated conversations about the Roman empire or birth of democracy in Ancient Athens, and succeed academically, should not be taken as an indicator of functional independence. Which hopefully will be helpful.

you might struggle with PIP as you’ll need his co-operation to get a claim through.

If pp becomes DS’s appointee, which, if it is necessary, can be done even if DS doesn’t want an appointee, it is possible to claim without his cooperation. Some assessors will try to insist on talking to the YP and not their appointee, but you can stand firm. They can talk to you instead.

Hey OP, when I wad much younger I had a terrible accident and broke my back, was left with a compound fracture. I wad told it would cause problems as I got older. Now, I am older. I have scoliosis, the fracture, 3 bulging discs and the start of arthritis in my spine. I am in so much pain all the time. My job is desk based but absolutely kills my back. I have special desk equipment, chair, rise and recline desk, foot rest etc. I cannot stand up OR sit down for long periods of time. If I walk/sit/stand too long I am crying in pain. I am on so many pain meds i feel constantly spaced out, constipated and get frequent headaches. I have started to compensate for my scoliosis by standing awkwardly and now get recurrent pain in my feet. I have recently had to take a bit of time off work due to the pain and the fact it keeps me up at night so I dont sleep well. However, I am a mother and capable of looking after my kids, I work, I drive, I do the after school clubs, I cook and I clean. All through the pain because I HAVE to. Can I still claim PIP even though I CAN do these things even though it kills me? I have veen advised to claim as it may help with the cost of a private chiropractor and accupuncture, which is not available on the NHS in my area. I wad lucky enough to be referred to an NHS led gym class designed especially for chronic back pain sufferers, but its only for 6 weeks. Is it worth me trying to claim? Thanks

Thanks Boobs, that sounds like a really good statement and it almost sounds like she could be talking about my DS 😅. Unfortunately our Senco is not so good. She means well but is scatty and disorganised - she blames her neurodivergence! - so I'm still waiting for her to send off the EHIC almost a year after we agreed DS is really struggling. Can I ask - are your son's appointee and if so, what was involved in that process? Did someone come to the house and was it all agreed well before you had to send the form off?

@SoapyMcSoapface you can request an EHCNA yourself now. You don’t need to wait for the school to do it. On their website, IPSEA has a model letter you can use.

@Shmee1988 it is worth applying. For PIP, in order to be considered able to do something, you have to be able to do it reliably. That is safely, to an acceptable standard, repeatedly and in reasonable time.

Thanks ExistingonCoffee, that gives me a bit of hope. I'm worried about how I'm going to become an appointee in the first place though because when someone comes to the house to talk to us, my son will tell them he's fine and doesn't need an appointee. Then after the visitor has gone, we'll have to deal with the emotional fall out 😩

Even if DS objects to you becoming appointee, it is possible to still becoming appointee if it is necessary for him to have one. Easier said than done, but please try not to worry.

I am his appointee yes. I just filled in the forms, sent them off, and heard nothing more until the day before his 16th birthday when I got a letter saying I was now his appointee.

I am very worried about how DS will perform in a face to face assessment. He knows in theory a lot of coping skills and independence skills. He can talk you through how to manage all sorts of stuff from cooking to handling social disagreements. But he can't actually bloody do it on a daily basis in the real world! Hence having an EHCP which states that he needs 30 hours 1-1 support a week...

In our local SEN community, a lot of our young people have just turned 16 so we have had quite a few families go through the process, including me with twins.

I also joined a FB group for parents applying for DLA/PIP.

Theoretically you’re completely right but it’s not happening in practice. I was lucky enough to get a wonderful assessor for my son (phone interview) who accepted that he wouldn’t even come into the room and even the idea of a call was causing him enormous distress.

However, the woman who rang the day before had told us that he HAD to give his name and attempt the call (DS overheard this and got into a right state). When I said to the assessor that I’d been told this she said that technically she did have the right on insisting that he was present throughout the call but having read the evidence I’d sent in, she could see how much distress that would cause. She did say though that she needed to document in detail why she hadn’t insisted on it otherwise when her report was audited, it would be sent back for her to ring back and speak to him.

Other families weren’t as lucky. One assessor ended the call and refused to continue as the young person wouldn’t come to the phone (autistic). Another assessor said they would end the call but the parent managed to get the young person to the phone for most of the assessment. Another assessor said they had to come to the phone to confirm their name at the start but then started questioning them even when the parent said “I’ll take over now” - the assessor said the parent needed to let the young person “try and they might do better than you think”.

All of us are appointees.

I won’t SS but in the FB group there was a woman whose DS is non-verbal and autistic. He’s still at school/college. The assessor wouldn’t do the phone interview without him in the room - everyone was just telling her to say he was there as he’s literally unable to speak!!

I think a lot of it depends on the company doing the assessment- I’ve heard a lot about Capita and SERCO and their rigid approach. As appointees, we are supposed to be able to manage the claim but in reality, lots of assessors are refusing to proceed and if you stick to your guns, they’re ending the call. Yes, you can complain and I’m sure it would get turned over (I assume!!!!!) but I don’t know anyone who’s done this.

I have twins. Put in both claims a fortnight apart. DS is much more disabled - still in nappies at age 16 etc. They asked for a face to face interview for DS which I requested was changed to a phone interview and they agreed. DD still has very significant disabilities but not as severe as DS - they approved her claim and granted her Enhanced based on the paperwork I sent in. It’s an absolute lottery.

As appointees, we SHOULD be able to speak on their behalf. That’s the whole point. But time and again the request is being refused and if you stand firm, they just end the assessment. It’s deeply, deeply wrong. Unless you’re lucky and get an understanding assessor, as I did. It really shouldn’t be down to luck, but it is.

@SpidersAreShitheads unfortunately, some assessors are poor and try their luck. As you say though, you can stand your ground if the assessor tries to insist and complain if they try to or do end the assessment. I have supported people to successfully complain when this has happened.

We didn’t have anyone come to our house - I just wrote on the form and it was approved. No questions.

Has your SENCO filled in the forms - have you seen them? You can send that off as evidence even if the EHCP hasn’t been granted/applied for yet. If you don’t have that will she write you a letter for PIP? That’s quite useful too. I also second @ExistingonCoffee ’s suggestion to just apply yourself. Faffing for over a year is completely unacceptable by the SENCO and is disadvantaging your DS!!

@BoobsOnTheMoon I wrote on the form that my DS gets very anxious travelling to unknown places even if he doesn’t have to speak (which is true). Apparently they tried to ring me (but I had no missed calls….) so they booked us in with a F2F interview. I rang them and they swapped it for a phone interview.

Aah that’s good to know that complaints have been successful!! I hoped they would but honestly I just have no faith any more.

It’s quite intimidating going through the process, especially if the DLA/PIP money is vital - so when an assessor threatens to end the process, it’s really easy to panic.

It’s just wrong. They shouldn’t be able to just ignore what the parent as appointee is saying about their vulnerable 16 year old. I’m planning on getting POA for my two when they turn 18 to hopefully make things easier in the future (they should pass the capacity test).

We need more people like you to support families. And I worry about the changes being brought in through the PIP review as I really do think they want to reduce the number of claims, and don’t really care how they do it.

@SpidersAreShitheads I completely agree that it is wrong. It shouldn’t happen whatever the person’s age. It relies on people knowing what should happen and what to do when it doesn’t happen like it should.

I suspect no-one actually called you…

Wow, that is a lottery @SpidersAreShitheads. It's so wrong that families who have more than enough to deal with are being put through this level of stress. Gulp. Thanks for all your help, with such families@ExistingonCoffee

We're right at the beginning of the process, and I need to reply to the letter asking if he wants to apply for PIP and if he needs an appointee. He really could do with the extra support as the DLA is a lifeline, but lying in bed at night, I wonder if the potential MH damage all the intrusive questioning will cause a sensitive young lad is worth applying for PIP.

To mitigate this, I was thinking about sending a covering letter with this inital form explaining that because of all the horrific bullying my son has suffered in the past for being different and all the work we've done to rebuild his self esteem, how triggering it will be for him for someone to come in and grill him on all this stuff. I understand why it has to be done by DWP and I'm not trying to be evasive, but can I request that they deal with the matter sensitively given the MH concerns here at the outset? Or do you think it'll be dismissed/ he'll be seen as an applicant with a fusspot mum?

@SoapyMcSoapface all you need to do at this stage is explain why DS needs an appointee/can’t manage the claim himself. You can do that by explaining everything you have here. As part of that, you can mention DS would not cope with speaking to others/discussing his difficulties and the negative effect that would have on his health (mental and physical health) and development. You can reference any evidence you have but don’t panic if you don’t have anything directly covering this.

Thanks so much for your reply, Coffee, I'll focus on just doing that.

Sorry, I've got one more question about this... I'm mindful that on the form they state I need to give a "BRIEF" explanation of why DS can't manage his own benefits "in the space below". Does that mean I must strictly crowbar all the reasons into that tiny box they've provided on the form? I have at least an A4 page of stuff in my head but don't want DS to be penalised because they will disregard stuff if it's not written inside the box! 🙄

@SoapyMcSoapface you can continue on extra sheet. Or, I would suggest writing ‘see additional sheet’ on the form and putting the complete reply on a separate sheet. I suggest the latter rather than putting part of the answer on the form and part on a separate sheet so that staff have to find the extra information and lazy staff don’t only read the form. Give a full answer, but what they don’t want is war and peace and people waffling and going off on tangents.

Could anybody help me please? A new claim for PIP and assessment over the phone has been done. This was three weeks ago and DWP still haven’t received the report. I called the assessors and they tell me it has been selected for a quality check. They can’t give a timeline on how long this takes. What are peoples experience? How long should this part take? I asked if any further info was needed from myself and they said they don’t think so because it states complete on things needed.
Also will the quality check likely reduce what the assessor has recommended?
I know once it has hone through audit it can take DWP another 8 weeks for a decision. The waiting is awful, it’s already taken months to get to this stage.

How long is a piece of string, I’m afraid. Recommendations sometimes. I don’t have statistics to hand about the % so couldn’t comment on the % that change.

Really? I assumed they may have had a time limit on how long they took to audit. Is there an average time? I just wish it would speed up so I get a decision one way or the other. I know everybody waits, it’s so stressful, but trust mine to get pulled for audit creating even more delays!

You still here OP? I was just wondering, do some conditions open doors to points that aren't open to people with other conditions? I have ME/CFS and it causes problems in all fields but some of what was said in the assessment made me think that some points were never really open to me. People I've talked to online with similar conditions seem to have got points or similar things and missed out on other points for the same type of thing despite having massive struggles in those areas.