PIP phone interview? All advice for vulnerable claimant welcome.

[Uniworries]

Short version: PIP claimant put the phone down when an assessor rang without warning as they couldn’t cope. Has been given a scheduled appointment as a 2nd chance.

Any knowledge would be really appreciated. They urgently need to be recognized as having unmet disability needs, not just ‘not trying hard enough.'

Will they be asked the same questions that are on the form, questioned about their answers, or other things?

(I helped them do the forms because they didn't understand them really)

What can I do to help them or prepare them?

Back story: They are young, (diagnosed) Autistic with CPTSD, ADHD, somatic symptoms, and related disorders. (Hospitalized for a year mid teens)

Superficially appear intelligent enough if 'unusual,' but don't seem to be able to apply it. They totally struggle on every level and do badly in understanding meanings of questions or nuance.
Very vulnerable to manipulation and use flipping a coin to make even life or death decisions.

Inabilities have resulted in systematic deterioration from struggling to care for themselves and not being able to complete education, to becoming jobless, unemployable, unable to cope with JSA system, unable to care for themselves properly without a lot of support, get the most basic things wrong and don't learn, and now are entirely homeless, and in danger a lot.

I'm trying to help them as they will be dead before social services do anything.

Started with PIP as doesn't have to be face to face, and agencies aren't seeing disability, just a foolish young person who should be able to do better.

They need an appointee and they need to help them with the interview or speak on their behalf.

They can ask anything at the assessment I've known people to be asked if they can drive, if they have pets to really random questions like what grades they got at school!

Are you the appointee? If you are then you can answer for them if they are too anxious. They do ask similar questions to on the form but my son was also asked if he knew what bills needed to be paid, what colour raw chicken was and a simple maths question.

Would I be able to be an appointee for them?

They will never be able to drive, their concentration and impulsiveness would be fatal, (they get hit just crossing roads) and know they aren't able to look after a pet.
I doubt they would remember what their school grades were, but they managed two and a half years part time of a creative based degree before the level of help they needed was too much and they had to drop out.

Can I ask if your son was an adult at the time?

There is a points system which they are checking off and you would be wise to look this up. They are looking for very specific criteria. Don’t be surprised if they don’t award PIp initially as many applicants have to ask for a mandatory reconsideration

I don't know how well they fit the points system. They certainly need prompting and encouraging to do most basic things, but it all seems to be designed more for physical difficulties and learning difficulties, rather than neurodiversity combined with poor mental health and action paralysis.

I've just looked up how to become an appointee and there won't be time before the interview, plus reading it I doubt the DWP would consider them as needing an appointee tbh. I wouldn't have when I first met them.

TBF I originally thought they were just a little different, outrageously scatty, and not managing adult life very well, but at that point they actually had a great deal of help and support and prompting from different sources which is why they seemed to just not be managing that well. They also mask well until you know them.

As the support lessened and dropped away, it became clear that no repercussions, or fear, or anything that happened to them, enabled them to do most things any better. They were actually tearing themselves apart trying to do the real basics, and failing bit by bit.

It sounds like they definitely need an appointee. Applying for benefits is really hard and with MH issues even harder.

I am appointee for my dd18 as she downplays her illness (ED) and how it affects her and she's very triggered by being questioned and will shut down.

I did her PIP application stating that an assessment would be difficult for her and luckily for that she was given a paper based assessment.

I also did her UC application and stated the same issue with the work capability assessment. However they insisted on a telephone assessment but as her appointee I spoke for her. She just had to answer some security questions and confirm she was fine with me speaking on her behalf. Apart from that brief chat on the phone she's had no input in claiming benefits herself.

Can you call the helpline and request to be made their appointee before assessment so you can speak for them? It will make the process longer but if successful the money is backdated. You'll probably need an appointment for a DWP person to visit you at home to check your ID etc. In our case it was all done very quickly, about 10 days I think. Now I can do all calls on her behalf and it's my responsibility to inform of any changes.

I hope you can get it all sorted. It is a very draining process but once the benefits are up and running it's worth it.

@LagneyandCasey Thank you for answering.

I actually called DWP to ask about being an appointee. They have said she could have someone become an appointee, but it would be unlikely that I would be allowed to be it as I have "no relationship to her or professional relationship" and she doesn't live with me.

I've allowed her to use me as a C/O address as she's entirely homeless, but can't have her living here

I did tell them she is estranged from her family after failing to grow out of her difficulties, and her sister used to look after her but has married and left the country while she was in halls. They've basically still said no, so it's going ahead tomorrow as best as she can manage.

I would advise you contact fightback4justice. Getting PIP can be ridiculously hard if you don’t word things in a way that fits their boxes.
Fightback is a non profit group with a very high success rate. They can advise and support from the start of form filling through assessments and if needed mandatory reconsideration and tribunal.
There is a small charge (£4.99-11.99 a month) but you can cancel at any time at all.
Thank goodness you are helping this young lady. People in similar positions to her have been failed many times by the dwp sometimes with fatal consequences. Is she under mental health services? Or any other help at all?

I can't remember things in the moment, so I wrote down information about how my life is affected for me to refer to in my call. Thankfully I did not need to ask for a reconsideration.

Can you be there when the call happens. She can ask for you to speak for her when they call. I supported a friend I couldn't be her appointee but was present during the call and they let me speak on his behalf.

TBH I'm bracing that she is going to be one of those fatal consequences.
She can't see a better future.

I tried to help word the form as well as I could with her from what I read online, but she was monosyllabic on it at first, and then rambled a lot on top of what I put, about how it all made her feel.
It was stated on the form that she had required help to fill it out.

But the interview is down to her and if the interviewer is interested in understanding her difficulties or not.

She was previously referred for 'complex MH support' after standard referrals failed, but becoming homeless put her out of borough and she has to start that journey again by the looks of it.
She's supposed to see a psychotherapist weekly, and attend a twice weekly anxiety peer support group, which she does if encouraged to get cleaned up and prompted to go. Otherwise she forgets about both.
She's on fluoxetine but no longer has a GP and only got her last prescription because I raised stink at a+e (after she did something scary) to get it for her. She sometimes goes to a homeless recovery workshop, but I gather it's mainly mindfulness coloring and not much input unless the person can engage.

She's also come to police attention as a victim but it didn't get her any help.

Yes, she's coming to my home to make the call. If they let me speak for her/ with her, I could help a lot
That's really interesting. When I spoke to DWP they said I could be there but not speak to the assessor!

@Uniworries My other advice is to record the phone assessment. I think you can ask dwp to record but I would also make your own recording as it might be vital if she gets refused. I use the just press record app and put the call on speaker phone.
She sounds like she really needs supported living but what hope of that (or anything) these days.
Is there a local Mind group who can give any support?

Thank you for the tip.
She is borderline for needing supported living at least for a time to learn how to do things more safely, but you wouldn't realize until you've known her for a bit and start to realize something is very off.
She appears 'normal' until she suddenly does something dangerous or inexplicable. Some of it is extreme ott impulsivity, some is very poor short term memory causing dangerous situations, entirely misinterpreting instructions or information, and her decision making process is often bizarre.
Mind have been good with phone numbers but feel she needs to keep presenting at A+E which she's rarely prepared to do as she's scared she's going to end up sectioned.
I sometimes think it might be an option, but she's drawn a line in the sand over how much she's not prepared to go through that.