MILs PIP has been withdrawn, please help

[HTKS]

In 1991 my MIL had an MS attack for the first time. After some time in hospital she was diagnosed with the MS and over time that diagnosis has been changed to relapsing remitting MS.

Ever since 1991 she has been on a disability benefit, moving benefits as the system changes. She hasn’t worked since 1991 and has three years to go until state pension age.

She has brain fog, falls a lot and is often incontinent of urine.

She found out yesterday that her benefit was being withdrawn.

What can we do? She is appealing but any help or pointers would be hugely appreciated.

What do you mean withdrawn?

Has she been reassessed? Has she been for her assessment? If so and the result is back has she requested a manual reconsideration yet?

I'm so sorry, the system itself is very difficult to negotiate but she must stick at it and appeal, the Mandatory Consideration often just backs up what the assessor said, but Tribunal is independent and relies a lot on medical evidence.

I'm guessing it's being withdrawn after a face-to-face assessment?

If so, read this thread, plenty help on how to appeal.
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/a3447544-pip-assessor-lies?msgid=83295892#83295892

Did they give any explanation at all?

Yes, she’s had a face to face assessment and it’s been withdrawn (or possibly it may be that she was going to be moved on to it from incapacity.... I can find out if that’s important)

She only found out yesterday and has done nothing yet.

Thankyou, I will look through that thread

Apparently she scored 0 points and you need 12 to be eligible?

She needs to ask for a copy of the report and a mandatory reconsideration (after she's seen the report).
Then its tribunal if there is no change due to the reconsideration, which she is likely to succeed at.
There are lots of threads on here about different people's experiences.

Also get her mp involved does she have welfare rights officer ? Also I believed the rules changed for people with life limiting illnesses.

There are loads of Facebook groups filled with loads information and help

With PIP It’s not about the illness but rather how affects you daily
This is where most people fuck up
They send of huge amounts of evidence of whatever is wrong with them but all that proves is that they have a illness , mobility problems
It’s how that illness actually affects on a day to day basis

So as a rule if your mil walks into the assement centre has no obvious clear mobility problems then she has pretty much failed it straight away
They will always take anyone with mobility problems to the room that is furthest away . If she can walk that far unaided then according to PIP rules she has failed I guarantee you that the room they take you to To is further than 20 meters which is the cut off point for getting mobility
However if she had gone in a Wheelchair due to her mobility problems.and was being pushed by someone else then she would have pretty much passed 100 percent

One of the questions the assessors always seem to ask is do you have a dog

If MIL says yes then the assessor will assume that she can walk the dog , is steady on her feet and Can bend down and pick up pooh and carry it
That she has no problems in going out on her own and can follow a route. -so no bran fog All of this by just saying yes you have a dog 😂

If when asked she didn’t explain that the bloody dog is her husbands and she hates it guts and wouldn’t walk it even if she could then the above is assumed

If she is Asked how she spends her day and she reply she watch the Tv or reads books then the assessor will assume that she can concentrate on complex storylines so no brain fog, and that she is able to sit unaided for at least 30 Mins with no problems or discomfort

I’ve known of people with mobility problem who had a simple doctors letter outlining the illness and that they had a prescribed wheelchair along with there prescription Notes and been placed on high rate of both levels of PIP

And someone else has sent in huge amounts of information medical notes consultant appointments and been refused PIP

The first thing you need to do is ring the DWP and ask fo a copy of the medical assessor report if you are going to appeal
The report will give you the reasons why she failed on each point
You also need to ask for a MR you only have around a month to do this so do this tomorrrow or as soon as you can
Once you have that you need to use the medical report to refute the asseors answers
If the MR fails then you can go to a tribunal

Have a look at the website Benefits and Work - it costs about £20 to get access to their guides on how to navigate the system for PIP and other benefits. The guides are long but very thorough and they show you how to answer the questions in a way that fits what the legislation asks for. The guides also have lots of information about how to ask for a reconsideration, appeal etc. Written by lawyers working in the field and well worth every penny (Please note - i do not profit in any way but have used these guides to help my partner claim Esa and PIP).

Do you mean she was being moved from DLA?

Because if it was moved from incapacity benefit that wiuld be to ESA which is different.

She has a month in which to ask for a mandatory reconsideration, so she should make sure she does it by the deadline.

She should also make an appointment to see a benefits adviser asap. One of the MS charities may well have someone who can help, otherwise it's CAB, local law centre or other advice centre. Her local council may well have a team that helps with welfare benefit matters, too (google "benefits advice" + the town or area she lives in to find an agency that can help).

The mandatory reconsideration (MR) will probably confirm the decision (they rarely change things at this stage, unless the claimant only missed out on a couple of points and has included strong supporting evidence). She still needs to ask for it though, as she won't be able to appeal without going through the MR stage.

The success rate for appeals is 70-80%, so she has a good chance of success.

If she gets help from Adult Social Care and pays towards it, she should let them know asap so that they can reassess her contribution. If she gets housing benefit, she also needs to tell the council. If she's on Universal Credit, the DWP will automatically make any adjustments that need to be made.

The system is brutal, stupid and imo probably costs more money than it saves. I'm sorry she's having to go through this.

If/when she wins her appeal, all the money she should have been getting will be repaid.

Fight back on Facebook is amazing has VIP phone number and web chat for 11.99 everyone who used it has got benefits back or higher entitlement

Pps are right about the mandatory reconsideration letter. My dp (who's been disabled since he was 2) had his revoked earlier this year. Thankfully it was reinstated. Find your nearest unemployed workers centre and they will help you fill everything out.

0 points for MS? Fucking joke.

Appeal, appeal, appeal. Request a copy of the full report from the DWP so you can see what the comments were. If the assessor has told untruths at all, put a formal complaint in to Capita, or whoever did the assessment as well as a complaint to the DWP themselves.

If she scored zero and you need 12, this must be from the form she filled in. They can only decide on the info she has given them.

The form consists of
preparing food
eating and drinking
managing your treatments
washing and bathing
managing toilet needs or incontinence
dressing and undressing
communicating verbally
reading and understanding written information
mixing with others
making decisions about money

If she can do all of these herself, or answered she could, she would not score any points.

www.citizensadvice.org.uk/benefits/sick-or-disabled-people-and-carers/pip/appeals/how-decisions-are-made/

A couple of questions and I can try to help if you pm me as I've successfully appealed two claims (as well as helping with others which didn't need to go to appeal, due to my job and family).

Pip is the replacement for disability living allowance and whether working or not isn't relevant. Incapacity benefit is a working benefit, replaced by esa and most recently part of universal credit. Dla and pip has no income assessment just a points based eligibility (diagnosis is irrelevant it's all about abilities or not). Mobility is separate and is to do with how far you can walk and planning journeys - whereas the other part is broken into parts eg can she eat unaided, can she prepare a meal and does she need to be prompted to eat, for hygiene it's can they bathe unaided with permanent adaptations (rails), do they need assistance or do they need to be reminded. You need 8 points to qualify. Unfortunately when completing forms and in the interview pride means people downplay symptoms or say "sometimes".

Get a copy of the application form and the assessment as a starting point - the staff at the help desk (Belfast office I believe) were really helpful contrary to other government departments. Let me know what other things will help

Hmm I'm hearing about a lot of people loosing disability / sickness benefits and being told to go onto universal credit the past couple of months.
I'm not usually a conspiracy theorist either

Losing *

I second the use of Benefits and Work. Their guides are excellent, and they recognise that dealing with the forms is exhausting and traumatic.

Also agree with the advice above about how to fill in the forms.

Titbits remembered from B&W:
– Don't answer, "Yes I can, but..." Answer, "No I can't, unless..."

– Answers should reflect what the applicant can do safely, reliably and repeatably, not just as a one-off after which they'll be in pain or unwell.

– Spell out the connection to the health condition every time. "I cannot put on non-slip-on shoes unaided. This is because I cannot bend without pain in my back, because of blah-health-condition."

– If a thing's worth saying once, it's worth repeating every time. So spell out the way the health condition is impacting the capacity, every time.

When you get the explanation of their decision as part of the Mandatory Reconsideration, go through it with a fine-tooth comb.

And be prepared to realise they have just straight lied. Totally fabricated completely false things.

I'm warning you about this because I used to find the anger and incomprehension that someone had blatantly lied in order to harm me was a showstopper in itself.

Now I go into it treating them as the enemy, and expecting them to attempt to harm me. If they don't – and it's not 100% of the time – then that's nice. But if they do, I'm ready for them both mentally and practically with the records I've kept of all interactions, and with the audio recordings I've made of the assessments.

As mentioned upthread by Housingcraze
Details for FIGHTBACK4JUSTICE for anyone not on Facebook

www.fightback4justice.co.uk/

This happened to my dad who has early onset Alzheimer’s, they gave him 0 points. We appealed which he lost so we took it to tribunal and he was awarded 24 points and they awarded it for 10 years by which time he’ll be 65.
It was a nightmare but the CAB were very helpful and a local dementia charity helped too and sent someone to the meeting with my parents.

Thank you all so so much, there is so much useful information here.