Not sure where to put this, so placing it in familliar stomping ground for traffic...DLA to PIP.

[OrangeIsTheNewPop]

So...The Dreaded Letter came through.

I was awarded indefinite DLA about 1000 years ago. Now it's our postcode's turn for The Big Swap.

That 40 page form is horrendous! Also feeling crappy because I'm so independent, and it was headfucking to document- especially in front of DH (he filled it out for me) exactly how much help I need... we usually take the piss out of it (Oh, Orange could get lost in an alleyway, etc). Mentally draining.

Anyway, that's the "woe is me" shite over. Is anyone else in limbo atm? Can anyone give me positive stories about the process? And a ballpark timeline, please? I have all documentation to send off today- how long before the ball starts rolling? (Need to know so I don't trip up over it 😂😂).

What happens now?

Ps, I'm an absolute SWINE for unintentionally drip-feeding, so feel free to flame. Happy to give details etc.

I couldn't face filling out forms. Will I have to call again or I can fill them in, send them with a letter from GP saying that I'm barely functional thus the delay.

I think the whole system is currently swamped with the number of people applying ( often with things they have no chance of getting PIp for). I think people with lifelong conditions should ( Autism, learning difficulties etc) not be re-assessed if there's no hope of things improving..
From what I have seen in my job, a lot of people try to claim PIPfor short term conditions or things that will potentially get better eve though the criteria are clearly stated . I totally understand why people do this - other income replacement benefits such as ESA ( if you are even eligible to get it) are inadequate to live off if you get ill and have to leave your job. Then people panic and think 'what else can I apply for'. The only option is PIP ( especially if you have a mortgage to pay and no kids) so they think they'll give it a go. They get turned down, then they apply for MR, then they take it to appeal, and it all massively causes a backlog for other with long term disabilities who are also trying to apply or re-apply.
In my job I deal with a lot of people with cancer who are too ill to work as they are undergoing chemo/ Radiotherapy / surgery. They possibly need a good year of work but most will recover. They feel sick/ exhausted / in pain from treatment etc and put in a PIp claim. However in my opinion it would be better to have a shorter enhanced rate of ESA for this group of people, and I mean more enhanced than the support group rate they currently get. People who's cancer leads to more chronic problems or disabilities could still apply for PIp of course. I just think the whole system needs a re- think.
Of course the other part of the problem is that some these DWP assessors are lacking in knowledge about the conditions of the clients they are seeing, thus they assess them wrongly, then people go to appeal etc.

My last PIP award was an alright process. Applied, heard back in a few weeks that I would need a f2f. Had it, was just a few 'points' off both awards. I did a MR and was awarded the extra points and got a 2 year award.

Was called back in for F2F a few weeks ago. Unfortunately on the day of the assessment I could not even get out of bed due to pain nevermind go to the assessment center. Rearranged and was told you can only rearrange once or its referred back to the DWP as non-attendance and your award will probably be denied completely. What a ridiculous rule. How on earth can people with long standing illnesses predict when they are going to be well? If it was that easy I would be working as I could predict which hours I could actually do.

Anyway. Day of assessment came. I was in agony, Dh had a vomitting bug also. Rang to try and rearrange despite what I had been told as I thought maybe they might budge a bit. Nope. They told me I had to come in. And also that as they now knew DH had a 'contagious illness' he could not attend with me and if he did I would be sent home and referred to DWP as non-attendance even though I did attend . I was in tears on the phone...I have not left the house without DH for over 2 years as my attacks come at any time and quite literally floor me sometimes.

We cannot afford to lose the award. I got a taxi there and back and in the course of 2 hours drank over 150ml of oramorph as otherwise I would have been taken to hospital with the level of pain I was in and miss the appointment still...and as I said, we cannot afford to lose it. I told all of this to the person assessing me and she seemed a bit shocked. She also seemed shocked when I was drinking my medication from the bottle infront of her but this is what they MADE me do. I don't want to be like that. At home I can deal with the pain with (usually) my normal medication and lying down/hot baths etc. But not when I am forced to go out. And in public, without DH. No doubt me not having DH with me will remove my award anyway as my claim form says I cannot go out without him...and I did (for the first time in forever). Maybe me managing through one of my worst pain periods with 'just' medication will go against me as nothing will be said about the amount of medication I had to take to do even basic things like walking to the examination room.

I don't hold out much hope tbh, and kind of wish I had not put myself through that.

Wanking - Next time you need to request a home visit for assessment surely ?

Wanking, my husband has to attend a F2F soon and one of his main problems is he is hearing impaired. I've pretty well decided he should take out his hearing aid and leave it at home on the day - a bit like you swigging medication in front of them.

Also... if they have such a back log of people they are swamped... why are they already reviewing cases they don't yet even need to review?

I requested a home visit backed up by my pain clinic consultant but it was denied..

Requested home visit for last consultation too but again, they decided I had to go to the center. Not everyone who asks for one, even if backed up by experts, gets one. I guess as it takes up more time and is more expensive...

We got away without a F2F for son (autism) but only a 5 year award when it had been DLA for Life. That was last year. So now I am worried he will get called in for a F2F anyway. I explained all over the original form why it would be inappropriate for him. Why are they doing this to us?

My sisters time line
applied for ESA in oct 2015
Awarded ESA & Support group jan 2016
From F2F to decision /award took 2 weeks

Applied in Feb 2016 for PIP
FTF in May 2016
Awarded LRC no Mobility MAY 2016
Went for MR June / refused
Applied to Appeal July 2016'
Tribunal Oct 2016
Won tribunal backdated to Feb over £3400
Awarded HRC HRM

What we found worked
Was to write a letter to her asking if her doctor could outline her mobility / disabilities as soon as she new she was applying for ESA

Then when we went for MR appeal asked the doctor to again write another letter confirming that her disabilities had not changed
Another one in Sept confirming the same . These 3 letters dated several months apart showed that there was no change in her disabilities
we highlighted this in the appeal forms
These letters were also used to get a blue badge even though my sister did not have HRM award at the time
In the tribunal photocopies of the blue badge doctors & letters were sufficent for the tribunal to overturn the DWP and award the PIP to my sister

Rinse & repeat for ESA ( sister is in the support group and was just placed in it again earlier this year after a F2F )

We used PIP award evidence from the tribunal , blue badge and doctors letters to get this

HTH

Oh my ESA experience was terrible. My assessor lied blatantly about everything, got 0 points. I don't remember if there was a MR process back then? If there was then I obviously still failed that. Had to wait a year and a half for a tribunal. At the tribunal I didn't even have to answer any questions at all, they awarded me immediately. Obviously actually read all my medical evidence rather that putting them to the side and not touching them since as I suspect the guy who did my assessment did...

Ended up with 3,600 backdated money...which was nice as there were some things I needed to buy and such. But would have been nicer to have my rightful award in the first place...

Wanking Monkey - you were swigging Oramorph Direct from the bottle?

The UK compared to other countries really shafts those with disabilities, but at the same time other countries don't suffer fools gladly. They pay quite a sum to the genuinely disabled, so the amount paid for care is quite considerable, as the country acknowledge that the care provided saves them a fortune.

I do think people take the piss, I used to be on Instagram and it drove me mental what I was seeing. The craziest thing, the obsession with teens/young adults and certain illnesses, being obsessed with basically starving themselves, get all upset when the Dr says yeah we think it's psychosomatic. Mummy and Daddy take offence, so they Dr surf till they get the answer they want. Then you see them eating crazy amounts of food. I literally can't eat anything at all.

There's someone I know quite young, I've known a few years, at various points I advised that they not take certain routes health wise, there was no reason as to why they needed many of the interventions. They'll die most likely if an infection, its such a waste as they are achieving quite a bit.

I'm quite annoyed as I had a lifetime DLA award, I got the dreaded letter last Nov, but I couldn't face the forms, so I appealed and asked for a new form. I'm trying to get everything in order before I move.

If you had DLA at Higher rate, but you were a daft twat and don't get it right now, if the powers that be say yes to ESA, do I have to be on DLA/PIP to get the top up for severe disability, or can I say I was on DLA indefinite for 10 years, I've been too ill to send back form, but from my Dr's note it says I've been going through hell. Will they consider it? I ask as according to this benefits website there's a £70 difference in the assessment phase, it's £82 normally or apparently £150 if you get the severe disability premium.

Thank you OP, you've truly booted me up the back side to get this sorted. I've got letters from GP's detailing things, my GP has insisted on writing a new letter, I've got letters from carers too detailing how hard work it is, the stuff that is Day to day for me.

Also that my health is a 24/7 thing, I don't or can't sleep through.

Those transferring if you lose your car, I heard you get a cheque from motability paying £2000 plus pro rata refund of your deposit. So try not to worry. I think you only get it if you lose your car.

I'm worried about the Tories getting in and what they'll do to disabled.

I need to support our social services support as per HA. Does anyone know how you go about that?

I was forced into a f2f with autism and couldn't speak during the assessment so my mum had to do all the talking. Assessor argued with my mum over some of my conditions (all with medical evidence of existence) Got zero points for communication with comment that my verbal communication was fine - I couldn't utter a single word- despite the assessor repeating I should never have been called for a face to face and it should've been paper based. We had requested three times for a paper based assessment and were refused. I sent in the assessment report, a social workers assessment/report, various professional reports and 80+ pages of supporting medical evidence. I did get an award but had my mobility removed despite being unable to leave the house alone. I was too scared to appeal in case I lost the award I was given.

The form wasn't too bad (although like the DLA form really brought home the day to day issues faced) for DS2. His ASD and MLD means he can never be independent.

We had to swap over just after his 16th birthday and our biggest issue was with the assessing company - they made an appointment for a face to face at our home and no one turned up. When I called them an hour later I was told they had no one available but forgot to cancel, and they would make another appointment. 6 weeks later get a letter awarding him high rate - they made the decision with just the reports we sent.

He has got to be assessed again in 5 years

Has anyone gone through the PIP renewal process?

Wondered how you found it?

I was only awarded PIP this year, new claim, but the thought that I've to go through the whole process again in 2-3 years is worrying.

Something which can help with the PIP / ESA is a care plan. My GP did one with me. However it is for serious conditions which can mean going into hospital if they get worse. I think this helped with the PIP / ESA. had a home visit which didn't ask for, (for PIP) and no F2F for ESA. Also things like directives for mental health, MH team involvement. I suppose it shoes the severity of your conditions. They tend to comment about being in the care of specialist services and use consultants letters etc as evidence. HTH a bit.

Wanking Monkey - you were swigging Oramorph Direct from the bottle?

I do it fairly often tbh when I need to. Rather than than another trip to A&E when it can be avoided. I only have 10mg/5ml solution so even a full bottle wont really do any harm. Tend to try to stick to 5mls per few hours but its not always enough

I have 500ml bottles so it's something I've never thought of doing. Do you have MXL / slow release morphine as well.

My GP is insisting on writing a letter and asked me to detail the severity of my conditions, just to verify a few things.

I'm that unwell I rarely leave the house so they know it's bad. They've also been told that even though they can't say when exactly I'm going to die, that is basically what's going to happen as there's no further treatment.

When you move from Assessment to Support, do they back pay the support to the start of your claim?

Had my home PIp assement 2 weeks ago. Sent in in 2nd week of February. Wrote to me middle April saying medical would be following week.
Waiting to hear, lady was very nice but seemed waste of time she basically read out what is written on the form, is that right? Then typied it all out I presume on her laptop. I've yet to see results she for all
I know she could typed something totally different! She agreeed it seemed pointless seeing me given evidence sent. She didn't even do the movement/medical part. The closest she got to me was to wave her ID badge so i could see it.

My carer thinks we get it no problem, I'm more dubious given 93k people in the last 6months scrored zero points! I mean you get 2 for using an aid to walk,wash, dress or eat. Surely anyone applying in first place needs lest help with one of those things. Should hear in next 4 weeks. But prepared to hear I get nothing!

I have 500ml bottles so it's something I've never thought of doing. Do you have MXL / slow release morphine as well.

Nope, they won't do that which is ridiculous as I would obviously need less oramorph if I had time release stuff. They did put me on slow release oxycontin at one stage but took the oramorph off me when they did that. And I would rather have something to chill out the intense pain bursts quickly than something that lowers the pain level a little bit continually, if that makes sense?

I get a bunch of the 100ml bottles so they are easy to take out with me rather than a huge bottle.

Hopefully soon will need none at all as am on the waiting list (and have been for a year and a half ) for some long lasting local anesthetic injections into my side. If those work I won't need painkillers at all.

The assessor I saw said they don't even take into account anything from GPs..only consultants. Not sure if thats true. She also told me..that even when I do finally get these injections, if they are effective as I am hoping they will be, I should NOT notify the DWP until 4-6 months later and that I would not be committing fraud by doing this as they like to know a treatment works long term rather than just a short term thing before your PIP award stops. Apparently they would rather make a few extra payments that aren't needed, than have me close down my claim and start a new one as doing so could leave me without support for months while a new claim is started. which makes sense of course, but its a bit...compassionate to be the DWPs words with how things are right now

When you move from Assessment to Support, do they back pay the support to the start of your claim?

I think its til week 16 of your claim. I know my backpayment discounted the first few months of the claim but i did get a very large amount backdated.

I read forms and it seemed be saying regardless if you qualify for PIP you get the next DLA payment. So if you find out at the start of May you get DLA end month as regular then either stops or PIP starts.

Surely if you qualify for PIP I'd not claimed DLA it goes from day they sent forms/you ring up.