I’m a PIP assessor, happy to advise if I can

[Impr90]

Hello all,

If you’ve got any questions you think I might be able to help with, please let me know

All the best for the New Year

Agreed. This is like interacting with AI.

OP, if you want to answer, try giving some detail instead of single sentence responses or asking a question in return.

From my experience as both someone who has supported a family member through PIP assessment, MR and tribunal and who is a qualified health professional, the whole experience was degrading and inhumane. Right up to the tribunal being up several flights of stairs with no direct car access to the entrance without walking 100m. Needless to say, couldn't even access the tribunal with a wheelchair user.

Yet it's not, because it happens all the time. People under a crocheted blanket being quizzed if they made it, and if they did, how could they possibly be disabled?

A jigsaw on the table means you aren't immobile and you don't struggle to hold things. A book next to the bed means that you don't struggle with focus. A mobile phone means you can interact socially and therefore do not struggle with anything. Brushed hair, clean clothes, makeup. They all mean you don't struggle with self care.

PIP assessors will quite literally use anything they can see to make out that disabled people are not disabled.

Absolutely pointless thread as the op has been no help at all to all the poor folk battling this shitty system
Her intentions were probably kind but nothing will change.

Hi, PIP isn’t a benefit only available to those not working. You can be working full time and still be entitled to PIP

PIP has nothing to do with work. Plenty of people work and claim pip legitimately

I support individuals to apply for PIP and in my experience some assessors are very good and some are very poor. Recently I have seen a number of Health Professionals Reports which claimed that as during a telephone assessment the individual made "no audible sounds of pain" that they couldn't have issues with their mobility.showering or preparing food. In another instance the individual could do up a seat belt so the assessor concluded that they should have no problems with cooking.

Let's try some examples I have come across
The bilateral amputee who had to attend for reassessment to see if their condition had improved.
The adult who had been anopthalmic since birth told they could see as they had looked in the direction of the assessor when they spoke.
The visually impaired adult who was told that given that they attended the interview in clean clothes their claim that they could not see if their clothes were stained on the PIP form was a lie
need i go on?

PIP isn't a means tested benefit, nor is it an out of work benefit. Get your facts straight before you benefit bash.

PIP is not even about whether someone can work or not?

Even if the indefinite award was 15 plus years ago ? if you are spending more time on new assessments - would indefinite awards be low priority - also would a very recent assessment for ESA (disability related) be linked to the DLA which would mean this assessment would not be required ??

No, the purpose of PIP is to help disabled people be independent and this means in some cases, accessing work. The clue is in the name.

Many disabled people on PIP work. It's a working benefit.

That's... not what PIP is at all? Your opinion is wildly incorrect.

Dreadful! Not surprising though sadly........

Everyone’s review period is different in PIP, though from what you’re describing I do think till you may be confusing PIP with another benefit?

I'm visually impaired and they claimed I made eye contact. I wear dark glasses as I'm severely photophobic. You can't tell what I'm looking at. I can't due to my visual impairment, physically look straight ahead. I might be looking in your general direction but I'm not looking at you.

Thanks for the reports on this thread.

Discussions like this often get heated but we'd like to remind you that Mumsnet is here to make parents' lives easier. While we encourage healthy and robust discussion, we hope that everyone can respect each other in their choices and express their views without resorting to personal attacks.

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We're sure you'd all agree all of us need all the support we can get. After all, being a parent is hard enough without facing judgement and criticism for those choices.

Peace and love

Speak for yourself.

100% this. ^ And as has been said, the OP doesn't seem to have posted anything useful so far.

@Impr90 I did want to complain but was very actively discouraged by the DWP as it would be a "we said/she said" and we'd lose anyway.
This particular assessor also phoned 90 minutes earlier than the appointment time (during a type 1 diabetic's lunch) but recorded it on the report that she'd phoned at the exact appointment time. I asked if she'd call back at the correct time because we were eating and needed to do insulin etc. She refused saying that if we did not do the appointment right then she'd have to record it as a refusal to engage. She talked over us all the time and when DC started to melt down and go silent she just carried on asking questions and at one point when when I explained that DC had gone mute she said that my answers as carer did not count. It was fucking horrendous as we had no paperwork ready and she just made it all up anyway.

The thing is that this experience, and subsequent ones with assessors little better, have left my very fragile DC lacking in any confidence that people 'in authority' will ever listen to them. They'll never work full time or live independently and can't even manage to cook or manage meds (complicated reasons for this) and believe me we have tried so hard to get them into a degree of independence but it's not happening. I now have terminal cancer and one of the last things that we wanted to do was get their PIP awarded so that they'd then qualify for extra help when I'm dead.

Yes because PIP is a different benefit to DLA. DLA doesn’t just transfer over to DLA. An assessment for ESA wouldn’t have any bearing on the need for assessment for PIP

You don’t just have to answer the questions, you have to qualify them. If you have a pet, say what it is and what elements of care you provide, and whether anyone else is involved with their care - otherwise they will assume that you can look after it yourself and if it’s a dog, that you can take it for walks.

Similarly if you are asked whether you drive, you don’t just answer yes. You tell them whether it’s a manual or an auto, and if appropriate why you drive that model, whether you have any adaptations such as hand controls, how often you drive and any other difficulties you have. Be prepared to be lectured about how you should report any disability to the DVLA - I’ve had this several times and have had to point out to the assessor that I have a life long disability and my driving licence is restricted according to my disability.

These are a couple of favourite lines of enquiry for PIP because the activities involved inform other areas of capability - walking a dog for example, would seriously impact on the mobility assessment, and the range of movement needed for driving would inform other areas of the condition as reported by the claimant.

Why do the assessment criteria not define what they actually mean on the form?
IE they ask if you struggle to read and understand text (which I do, especially when in a crash) but they mean one sentence.
They ask if you struggle with budgeting but they mean can you calculate very simple change in a single transaction.
They ask about cognitive difficulties and then say you can't have them because of previous educational attainment. (No appreciation of acquired cognitive problems and how they differ from congenital learning disability)
They ask about your struggles on the majority of days then ask about infrequent good days and say that's what you can do.

The irony of PIPMumsnet!! 🤣🤣🤣

😊😊

You might not find anything I’ve said useful but others might. Please don’t speak for everyone

friend been waiting almost a year for renewal, any idea how long the wait is for that?