to think under these new rules no one will qualify for PIP .....the replacement for DLA.

[HelenaDove]

Looks like the ruling has been created retrospectively in a hurry.....a bit like they did with workfare.

People with epilepsy and dementia arent going to qualify Utterly disgusting.

www.msn.com/en-gb/money/news/tory-ministers-have-rewritten-the-law-to-deny-increased-disability-benefit-payments-to-more-than-150000-people/ar-AAngTpD?li=AA54rU

The rules have always been that though, it's not really a change. Some appeals meant they were going to change things bit this is just changing it back to how it already was.

My DB is under threat of having is DLA stopped as he didn't attend the move to PIP medical.
Except he did, but two of the assessors were off sick so he was sent home as they wouldn't be able to see him! He is just hoping that he will have a result of his latest MRI before he needs to appeal (or they actually give him another appointment.)

My dad was self employed contractor for 10 years before he became a cleaner, his company ended his contract and he had to find another job, it was all very underhand, this was just as he started showing symptoms and he was a bit forgetful.
He was told he doesn't have the right sort of NI payments to qualify for ESA.

I want to cry.
I have moderate cfs/me and have put off applying for pip for the last year because the process for applying for Esa was so thoroughly demeaning and exhausting.

I can't travel to new places by myself because of brain fog and memory loss. I'm assuming that I'll fall under psychological distress for the above descriptor so even less of a chance to access the support I need.

Chronically No, they don't automatically ask for medical evidence.

I totally understand why you wouldn't want to go through the stress of an appeal, but if you ask for a mandatory reconsideration then you can send letters from your specialists at that point. Also if you do go to appeal they send you the entire file from which they made their decision - so you will see what evidence they asked for and what was sent if they did request it.

madamginger If he doesn't have the NI contributions for contributions based ESA then he should be applying for income related ESA instead.

There was a discrepancy between how tribunals were interpreting "Planning and Following a Journey" and how the DWP were.

At my friends appeal the DWP case presenter was absolutely adamant that because my friend could plan a journey she did not qualify. Whereas the tribunal decided that because she could not safely follow and complete a journey she did qualify.

After her tribunal the DWP deliberated for 6 weeks over the possibility of appealling the appeal decision, but in the end chose not too. She believes from a narcolepsy support group she's on that there is one woman whose decision they have appealled to the upper tribunal on this basis.

Madam ginger - As pp says he could apply for Income based ESA if he doesn't have enough NI contributions. If he doesn't qualify for this it will be because he has savings or a working partner and household income is too high.

I'm disabled and need a carer for 16 hours a week; I dont qualify for PIP. DLA used to help me with the additional costs of being disabled. PIP is set up to exclude as many people as possible.

Important info

Reminded by lalalalyra's post re. GPs refusing to provide evidence as it's ignored.

Basically, it seems medical evidence isn't passed on to the decision maker. You can send it with your form and take copies to the assessment, but the decision maker will never see it.

The way around this is to send it separately to the DWP decision maker. If you fail the assessment, send the evidence again when you ask for a reconsideration.

If you send it with your form then it will go to the decision maker. If it doesn't then something is going wrong - anything that goes with the form has to stay with the form/file.

The main issue is that the Decision Makers are allowed to put more weight behind the assessors opinion than anything else. That forms the bulk of their evidence.

Even if the 'assessor' is a physiotherapist or nurse practicioner and your medical evidence comes from two consultants, a specialist nurse and a GP who has known/treated you for 20 years.

I probably won't get it but Joe Bloggs down the road will say he has a bad back and get it, really winds me up.

Please stop spouting this nonsense.

My 'bad back' as you put it, has me in a wheelchair and more medication than you can wave a stick at.

Whatever valid points you may make are completely lost when you spout such nonsense.

For those switching with very severely disabled children don't worry too much. My son (severely autistic, severely learning disabled, epilepsy, non-verbal) switched without problem. It's actually easier for people like him to claim enhanced rate mobility than it was claiming HRM under DLA. Although I have just discovered he no longer has an automatic entitlement to a blue badge

Unfortunately not for my son with autism/learning disabilities. He used to get high rates of DLA, but now does not qualify for PIP. I also, of course, cannot get carer's allowance either. His needs are the same as before, in fact as an adult now, in many ways more complex. Whatever anyone says he cannot work and he stlll needs care, just for no money now.

I do believe there is a proportion of professionals who do believe any ASD magically disappear on your 18th birthday. In our area of the country there is no doctor or clinic for adults with ASD.

Lakie its great that you have won on those points but the point is why should ill/disabled people have to keep hoop jumping and put through all this bureaucracy and disability denial over and over .... endless form filling and having to attend assessments or beg for a home assessment or have assesments cancelled on the day or rock up at the assessment centre to find there is no wheelchair access.

Supermum the boss of Next was on Question Time a few years ago and had a moan about disability benefits .

Not one member of the panel or audience asked him what his policy was on employing disabled people. NOT ONE!

lalalalyra
f you send it with your form then it will go to the decision maker. If it doesn't then something is going wrong - anything that goes with the form has to stay with the form/file.

It's supposed to, yes. But it doesn't always.

Amd given the relatively short time limit for returning the form, many people only supply evidence at the assessment which is even more risky. That definitely doesn't get passed on, or often doesn't. I'm not the only one who's supplied evidence at this stage, then exactly the same evidence at reconsideration/appeal and had them treat is as new evidence (making lots of comments about this NEW evidnce etc)

Onbroadway - I'm surprised to hear that - my son scored way over the 12 points needed for care. (He was well into the 20's - I had scored him higher but he was so far above the threshold it didn't matter) and he scored a straight 12 for mobility.

The people I know who have had problems have been in the moderately autistic/mild learning disabilities range - (which PIP is designed to reduce so no surprises really). I don't know any of his peers at his SLD school who have had any problems - they've all just switched over. The only problem I heard was one person struggling to get them to accept that her son could not be seen - but even that was accepted in the end.

This is disgraceful. The whole point of PIP is that it's supposed to look at how your disability/illness affects your daily living and mobility, not the nature of your condition. I'm sure it even says that in the guidelines for filling in the form, so they're going against their own principles! If you need assistance going out, it shouldn't matter whether that's due to a physical or mental disability.

Claiming PIP is hard enough already, and the goverment are constantly trying to sneak away more and more help.

Ive just seen a tweet from someone calling out a BBC reporter for describing people on PIP as being "trapped on benefits"

A carer who has two autistic children won 14 mil on the lottery very recently
The headline?............Single mum on benefits has 14 mil lottery win.

These attitudes and the style of reporting are part of the problem.

Cadsuane If they stop his DLA and make no pip award because he didn't attend the medical, then don't worry about the MRI, it's irrelevant. All the Tribunal will be interested in is whether he had notice of the assessment and why it didn't happen on the day. The MRI will be relevant later on when someone makes a decision on entitlement.

There are lots of people who get pip now who wouldn't get DLA (largely because of the way aids are treated). There are some people who will be worse off because of the lack of consideration for risk/supervision and night times.

There is big problems in the system my friend is on esa she sent in her form got an acknowledgement back confirming everything then they stopped payment because they hadn't received the paperwork she rang and explained she had proof from them that they had so they released the payment following payday no money same bullshit story from them

The problem is that people seem convinced they all know someone who is on the fiddle with disability benefits.

They know someone who gets it who doesn't deserve it. They don't think about the fact that "You always look well when I see you" doesn't really mean much when you see someone one day a month because the rest of the time they are at home too ill to go out. Or "Well, we all get tired" and totally ignore that fact that whilst yes, that is true, we're not all likely to fall asleep while crossing a road or while cooking dinner.

People are also terrible for not realising that often you simply do not know the ins and outs of someone's medical conditions even if you know them well. I know that my friend with narcolepsy regularly pisses herself because my daughter also has narcolepsy and she was wonderful at speaking to my daughter and helping her come to terms with it. We have friends she's known for years who have NO idea of that aspect of her condition because she doesn't want them to know.

Also people use the phrase "Yeah, but we don't mean you..." to people completely ignoring the fact that the few people who are on the fiddle - and the fraud on DLA was TINY according to the DWP's figures - are the ones with the energy and stamina to jump through the extra hoops!

Onbroadway - I'm surprised to hear that - my son scored way over the 12 points needed for care. (He was well into the 20's - I had scored him higher but he was so far above the threshold it didn't matter) and he scored a straight 12 for mobility

Glad it worked for your son and his friends Devilishpyjamas. I have three sons with differing levels of need and the changes over the past year or so have made our lives so difficult (though of course their conditions have not changed).

My DS has autism and he got 22 points for daily living and 12 points for mobility - no face to face assessment needed. He has got automatic entitlement to a blue badge with his PIP. His needs are very severe though, and he was on the highest rates of DLA on an indefinite award before getting PIP. He goes to a special school and is on a high dose of antidepressants, plus incontinence and we had a ton of evidence from his school, specialist consultants, social worker and police. My experience has been like Devilishpyjamas - everyone at his school has had no problems getting PIP or DLA, the children who have ASD and have been turned down tend to be at mainstream schools and more capable of independent living skills, most of them have GCSEs and A levels and are heading for university, and don't have much intervention with specialist consultants.

Having the correct support behind you to help fill in the forms is the main thing imo.

PERSONAL- many people cant have a personal life as they need 24/7 care.

INDEPENDANCE- As above. How the hell can they say severely disabled either/or mentally or physically be independent FFS?

Payments- why must we always be in fucking thrall to these fuckers who couldn't give a bloody damn about us? they just want us to die so they don't have to bother with the 'waste of spaces/drain on society' we are.