PIP assessor here

[Fsj88]

Good evening

I’ve been encouraged to sign up to Mumsnet by a friend who has suggested that some people might find it useful to be able to ask a PIP assessor questions.

If there’s anything you think I can help you with, please ask away

No absolutely don’t worry. We’re used to handling large amounts of evidence. Just bear in mind your assessor might be working some unpaid overtime that day 😂

I've asked this already but you didn't answer; is your performance in any way assessed on the number of claims you reject/ accept? Do you have targets based on numbers of claims accepted/ rejected?

Because for the process to be consistent and fair everyone needs to be assessed under the same structured criteria and their functional ability needs to be considered under the scope of each activity. The system would be absolute chaos otherwise

See, so many severely physically disadvantaged people who are deserving and needing of pip are declined it, yet the 16 yo I know who has adhd (went/goes to mainstream school/college; has a part time job ffs) gets it and MOBILITY….why? Please, I need to understand this.

In an ideal world a mental health professional assessing mental health cases, for example, would be preferable but there are rarely ever cases which claim for one condition in isolation. Claimant usually have a combination of wide varying conditions such as mental health and musculoskeletal, so in practise it would never work.

Sorry just edited to add I don’t have much knowledge of the inner workings of the mandatory consideration process as this doesn’t form part of my role

Sorry, I’m just catching up on posts.

No absolutely not. I don’t know where this rumour ever originated as I’ve heard it so many times.

We are regularly audited and we have performance targets but they’re based on the quality of our information gathering and report quality

My daughter has a chronic illness. Sometimes she needs a wheelchair to go out, sometimes she’s too exhausted to even go out the door, but sometimes she’s absolutely fine and goes off to dance classes. I would say on average 90% of the day she is okay if she is careful and paces herself but every day there is that 10% where she cannot do the thing she wanted to do out of sheer exhaustion. (This is an over simplification as there are some days she is unable to leave the house at all)

I understand the threshold of “more often than not” but don’t know how this applies here. It impacts her every single day, but only 90% of the time.

There’s nothing you ‘have to’ submit but documents that would be useful could include a factual report from your GP, consultant letter, any physio/occupational therapy/ occupational health reports, repeat prescription. Just as an adage don’t focus too much on your problems walking on rough terrain in your application as it isn’t considered. Distance however, is

The reason people believe this is because some claims, which clearly meet criteria, are rejected.

I have a child who has been awarded 0 points across the board for care needs.

One example:

She is unable to safely prepare a simple meal, this was evidenced in an OT report, this is due to hand / wrist stability as well as mental health and executive functioning issues. 0 points awarded because she is able to spread nutella on a slice of pre-sliced bread!

There is no reason for the assessor to have got this so wrong, unless they are assessed by the number of claims accepted/ rejected, is there?

Thanks for this useful thread. I have just submitted DH’s paper based review forms. He had a TAC stroke in 2023 and was awarded higher rate for both daily living and mobility without question, after a years stay in hospital and a brilliant summary report from the rehab team there, which included all disciplines including neuro psych.

The NHS have been brilliant since and we have had an extended period of community care with an end of support report as part of a wealth of evidence. I’ve two questions because I’m scaring myself to death reading these threads and social media. I’m pretty sure he qualifies for the full rate for both still, due to the level of support he needs but would a Rookwood driving test (badly failed, score 16) demonstrate the lack of cognitive ability to journey plan. (It’s a non driving assessment to evidence cognitive skill ability to drive). Theres other evidence too because he can’t write, process, sequence etc either.

Ref mobility - he can walk over 200m (maybe once a week) but extremely slowly, with stick, a leg brace, and one of us being with him as he has left sided inattention and veers to the right so is dangerous, he needs to rest afterwards in bed but I encourage him to keep trying to doing this to preserve what little he has. Extreme foot drop so a trip hazard. We’ve evidence from consultant, and private neuro physio (paid for by his PIP) to support. But will they focus on distance?

I get a bit upset reading the negativity re pip - he’d trade every bit of support to go back to his old life.

Thank you for the reply. It seems unfair that it works this way. I wasn't aware that each case only has a limited amount of time. I did ref quotes from documents and gave page numbers for them for each question to hopefully make it easier/ quicker.

I had an assessment a year ago as I applied due to restrictions I have due to poor mental health. I explained to the assessor how I struggle to go out, eat/cook food and maintain my home and that I needed support with this and she appeared be empathetic of this. However, she scored me zero points which was a real shock. What could be the reason for this?

The law says the mobility assessment should be on the type of surface normally encountered by a pedestrian outside. It went to the upper tribunal so its binding case law. And another reason legal training would be helpful. It’s not distance on any surface.

I’m sorry to hear of your difficulties. Under planning and following journeys what you describe, pain and immobility resulting from psychiatric disorders would not be considered. It might be of note to some people that neither is feeling too unmotivated to go out. Activity 11 considers ‘overwhelming psychological distress’, the threshold of which is high and the symptoms you describe, although distressing, are not consistent with what we would need to see to be able to score. Your pain and immobility should however, have been considered under activity 12, though would need to be present on the majority of days to score.

In answer to the second part of your question, diagnosis alone doesn’t determine outcome

I wanted to give an alternative viewpoint for all of the posters on here horrified at the idea that somebody could claim PIP without providing medical evidence.
I was born without eyes and with multiple joint deformities. While I can't say if documentation was provided when I first claimed adult DLA, as it was then, because I was a teenager at the time and my parents would have handled the application, I do recall what happened during my assessment around a decade ago, when I was transitioned from DLA to PIP.
While I submitted the required form, I am pretty confident that I did not submit any supporting documents, though I gave the DWP permission to contact my GP for verification if I remember correctly. I had a face-to-face assessment, though it was quite brief as the assessor was able to verify, from across the room, that my wrist, elbow and finger joints were visibly misshapen and I offered to remove my prosthetic eyes for her, which she declined. This was apparently sufficient information to back up what I had claimed on my form. She still had to go through some questions with me, though it seemed to be in a perfunctory manner, though she did seem a bit embarrassed about having to ask me if I could drive.
As a result of my claim I was awarded the higher rate of both components and have not had a reassessment since, probably on the basis that my condition is highly unlikely to have improved.
I know that some posters on here would like more regular reassessments to be made for all claimants but, in a case like mine, it would seem like an inefficient use of time and money. However, if the DWP want to pop round once a month to check I haven't miraculously sprouted eyeballs in the intervening period I am more than willing.

No, but “it strongly increases your chances of a successful award”. (Turn2Us).

There’s an important distinction between not needing to have supporting documents in order to start a PIP claim and saying that evidence isn’t needed.
DWP guidance encourages claimants to provide relevant supporting evidence they already have. Assessors are expected to consider the claimant’s account, any supporting evidence and the other information available when advising on the claim.
You don’t need to delay claiming to obtain evidence, and you shouldn’t assume you need to pay for a GP report. But relevant evidence can help explain how your condition affects your daily living and mobility, and further information may be needed to reach a properly informed decision.
So please don’t interpret “you can claim without evidence” as “evidence doesn’t matter”.

Submitting is useful but isn’t a requirement

There are huge delays currently. We’re inundated with new claims. I’m still assessing people who applied in June. If she calls the DWP existing claims line an advisor will be able to tell you where in the process the application is

No we don’t work to any such targets.

If a condition is unfamiliar to us we do the same as we would treating a patient in clinical practise - refer to reputable sources (we actually have a bank of knowledge documents created specifically for us), speak to colleagues and the like. We prepare for assessments beforehand and have time to do this unlike in clinical practise where you’re more likely to be put on the spot!

Having a companion can be invaluable for the the claimant as well as the assessor at assessment. A companion is welcome to contribute throughout and give surplus information and additional context to anything reported by the claimant.

for example…

claimant - ‘I change my clothes once a week’
companion - ‘yes and my husband and I prompt him daily but this prompting can lead to him becoming distressed and we have to withdraw. Prompting is usually successful once a week because on the other days he’s just too low in mood’

An assessment that couldn’t continue would look something like…

claimant - ‘I get dressed every day. I’m fine and I wish everyone would just get off my back’
companion - ‘no, that’s isn’t true, six days a week when we visit you’re still in your pyjamas at midday ’ etc

If information is conflicting then it isn’t reliable. The claimant needs to be formally assessed as requiring an appointee and the appointee needs to be approved as appropriate. This process is conducted by the DWP. In this instance the claimant can still attend the assessment and contribute but the weight of the evidence provided by the appointee will be greater than that of the claimant if they continue to give mismatched information.

I hope that helps clear it up

I can see that someone else has helpfully sent you a link.

No they don’t change, though may do following review that’s being undertaken (Timms review). We’ll have to wait and see what comes of that

You’ll be sent an AR2 form which isn’t too dissimilar to the PIP2 form it’s likely you completed prior to your assessment. It takes you through each of the activities, asks what your current needs are and whether they’ve changed since the previous assessment. You’ll then be invited to another assessment (unless they decide to assess you as part of a paper based review, in which case you won’t need a telephone/ face to face assessment). As things stand many people’s awards are being extended because there are so many new claims being submitted we can’t meet the demand. Though of course this may be different by the time your review comes around

Yes and yes. You have to have a current registration to be an assessor

place marking