PIP interview Advice

[LittleCosette]

Hi everyone,

I'm preparing for my PIP interview and would really appreciate any advice or tips from those who've been through this process. I have rheumatoid arthritis, which significantly affects my daily life, mobility, and ability to work.

I’m curious about what kind of questions they might ask during the interview. For example, will they focus on specific tasks or ask about general daily challenges? Also, what sort of evidence should I provide to support my application?

I’ve gathered things like medical records, letters from my GP, and details about how my condition affects me, but I’m not sure if this is enough or if there’s anything else I should include.

Thank you so much for any guidance or experiences you can share—it would mean a lot!

OP obviously means give the correct information to get the money she is entitled to because of her disability. Obviously there is a right thing to say as people have said describe your worst day which I wouldn’t know was the right way to do it. I would have just talked about general days.

Look up Charlie Anderson on Youtube. She's very informative.

I would answer how it is for myself, for example if my condition varies from day, to day, explain how often it is, and how it affects daily life.

So you explain how it affects you during a flare and how often that occurs.

For example. When I am having a flare, I cannot wash myself at all and need assistance to shower. I have a flare roughly once a month and it usually lasts for a week before I can wash myself again.

Wasn’t obvious to me.

How can OP possibly give incorrect information about her own condition?

I think its more if she forgets any significant parts its hard when your nervous and talking to someone who's judging your every word and trying to pick apart everything you say

The only 'right thing' to concern yourself with, is getting across how you are affected in your day, to day life, by your condition. Take your time to explain, as if you are telling someone a rundown on your average day, who knows nothing about you. If your condition is variable, make sure that they understand that. Be honest, and thorough.

Not incorrect, necessarily, but when something is just normal to a person, they may underplay just how much they are affected by their own condition. That will not help anybody, during an interview for PIP.

They ask a whole variety of questions, for me some of them were about my medical history that the evidence hadn’t really covered, some about how I manage various aspects of daily life.

i gave them full access to my medical records and they seemed to have used it because I forgot one diagnosis in my evidence and they’d seen it from my medical record.

i have primarily mobility issues following an accident. They asked about what sort of stick I use, how I get in the car, what meds I was on (it had changed by the time of the interview). What sort of place did I live in, any pets, cooking, food.

asked for eg in the last week how many times have you fallen (I couldn’t remember but I did tell bee the last one and tell her about it).

they’re primarily looking that what you say is consistent.

What kind of evidence is most useful for the assessment? I am aware that now the DWP don’t even want a GP letter of support and yet realistically the GP can be the professional who receives all the updates from other doctors/consultants/specialists etc and then has the best overview of how medical condition(s) affect the person on a day to day basis. Particularly when people are now often waiting such long times for NHS appointments in hospitals, people may have no alternative but to be seen by their GP in the interim. If a GP letter is not acceptable evidence, why not?

Obviously your reading comprehension and your empathy levels are very low then.

You can tick a box that gives them access to medical records.

in the circumstances if they have that they don’t need a GP letter of support.

Some people are very anxious and like to rehearse things mentally before they do them. It would help to know that, though, since we are trying to help her.

Thank you for understanding people. I find it very hard to talk about without crying so want to be as prepared as possible.
I am newly diagnosed and struggling to accept how my life has changed. I feel I’ve turned into a different person over night. I’ve really played down my condition when I spoke to them mental health team because I didn’t want to admit how poorly I was. I really regret that as I have struggled so much with my emotions.
i just did not want to do myself a disservice by sugarcoating things.
As I have said the severity of the flares have muddied the water somewhat when it comes to describing an average day.
I have followed people’s advice and asked my husband if he can pick up DD on the day of the appointment.

@LittleCosetteits perfectly normal to feel emotional about it, after all you are being asked questions that are sensitive and probably stuff you try to put a brave face on about. My advice is to keep calm (difficult I know) and keep referring back to what you put in your application. Just be honest and factual. I found it a difficult experience but didn’t think the assessor was trying to catch me out. Make sure you have some water at hand to sip and sitting somewhere private and comfortable for the call. I put my phone on loudspeaker so I didn’t have to hold it and had hands free to look at my application form.

In my experience of various types of specialists in hospitals, many don’t always update the medical notes accurately, if at all. Over the past two years, I have worryingly seen so much of this happening where the notes or appointment summary do not reflect what actually was discussed. How then can this possibly be relied upon for such an important matter as a PIP assessment? That’s where I can see how valuable a GP letter or report could be.

Call in a favour from a friend, or ask your partner/ child’s father, and ask them to pick her up and take them to theirs so you don’t feel pressured to rush.

Also record the interview. As long as you tell them you are recording it for your own use they can't object. Also less chance of them skewing what you say against you.
They may say it's fine, we record it but say you will still record it yourself.

I agree my medical records are full of lies. I often question if me and the drs where actually in the same appointment. Plus I'm across multiple trusts so the records aren't always updated and included

Missed your update, well done. As others have said have water to hand and tissues in case you need them, you probably wont. Make sure you are sitting somewhere comfortable and have had a wee.

They'll ask questions based on what information you sent in. Just describe your symptoms on your worst days. My last telephone interview lasted about an hour, but it depends on how much information you have put on the form.

I had a text confirming I would be getting a telephone interview, but the worst thing was that they didn't tell me a time and day beforehand - just rang up out of the blue. Fortunately I was at home, and just working quietly at my desk with no meetings, but still it was an hour I didn't plan.

I'm reporting another change this year, and expecting another one to be done, whether it'll be another phone call out of the blue, who knows?

Yes, they are. It’s not a stick to beat me with though. It’s a disability. There was nothing wrong with me asking OP about something that I didn’t done clear.

Just to add as further evidence of my reading comprehension being low, I agreed that but also said ‘they are’ when you had mentioned lack of empathy. I actually have a lot of empathy, but I do struggle with comprehension, communication and processing.

Talking about your worst day as if it’s your average is fraud, which is illegal.

The flares don’t muddy anything. You just describe how many days a week or month look like what.

I have flares for about one week per month, I cannot wash myself on those weeks and someone helps me. About one week a month I am able to wash myself so long as I am sitting down in the shower on a bath board and the other two weeks a month I stand in the shower.

Obviously I’ve made that up but that type of thing.