To think people like me should get some sort of financial help

[Shimmershine819]

I'm at my absolute wits end. Crohns disease for 25 years. I work part time in the NHS (25 hours per week). I cant afford to drop any more hours. I've done the calculations, we'd get no help as a family. We can't survive on DHs wage alone.

No more accommodations can be made for me. I'm so ill. I've just finished a 4 hour shift, 4 short hours and they felt like an eternity. I was in so much pain, nausea, sweating. Trying to put on a brave face.

The multiple treatments I'm on don't seem to be making a jot of difference.

I think of all of those out these like me, with chronic illness, quietly struggling through each day with no help. Not ill enough for PIP, too ill to try and live any kind of normal life. My life is now work and bed. Thank god DC are older now.

Just needed somewhere to offload.

It's just the Scottish version of PIP and the criteria are the same.

That said the Scottish system of applying is a million times more sensible than that of PIP and common sense is broadly applied.

I was awarded enhanced for both, paper based, for 10 years because they believed me unlike the PIP assessment.

They disputed it by saying she was at fault for not ' paying due care and attention ' before crossing.
Although obviously neither side could prove if she had or hadn't.
She lost her case on that.

There is help available for people like you if you are able to work earning less than 16 x nmw per week. You can claim UC and ask to be assessed for work capability and go through an assessment. if you were deemed to be limited in the hours of work you could do due to your condition then if awarded what's called LCWRA, you would get extra money on the claim, or if just LCW you would still get a work allowance on your claim meaning a proportion of your partner's earnings would be disregarded before deductions came off the claim. However if you have kids, you will already get this work allowance. however for older couples with no dependents, this really helps where one of a couple cannot work or are limited to working just a few hours, in fact I helped a couple the other week and they were fifities/ early sixties and husband too ill to work and they still got almost 1k a month in UC despite the wife earning almost 1k too. So it does help in some circumstances. Of course if your partners earnings are so high that it lifts you out of entitlement to UC altogether then there's not much to do, but if you did have to give up work altogether you could claim contributions based ESA which although not a lot, could help.
I agree PIP is very hard for anyone with this type of illness. I helped a man apply for PIP last year with severe ulcerative colitis which was debilitating and he was turned down for PIP numerous times.

Poor advice. You don't base a PiP form just on worse days. you need to meet the descriptors for 50% of the time.

apply for PIP and use someone like Fightback 4 justice to help you. I have RA, I work 30 hours and got PIP last year, which is a huge help towards not having to do the extra day. You’ll have loads of evidence in the form of consultant letters and medication info. Please do it, it’s a horrible process and I felt quite rubbish about basically focusing on all the things I can’t do, but worth it in the end x

People need to stop giving this advice. Please. It isn't helpful to anyone. People should by all means describe a worst day and how often it happens and how it affects them but you don't just fill the form in just based on a bad day. If you say you can't walk 20m because that's how you are on a worst day a few days of the year and then on your PIP assessment day ( and yes they do watch ! ) you are having a good day and can walk 200m, they are going to think you are exagerrating.

Yes relevant medical evidence is really important to back up a PIP claim.

I should also add, if you were successful in being awarded PIP, then you can ask to be assessed for work capability on Universal credit no matter how many hours you work. Good luck.

You have to describe your worst day.

It's how you are 50% of the time

FFs stop it !

Yes, you should be getting help!

don't they take a cut?

No. You pay for their services, depending on what help you want. I believe there’s varying levels. I know they often represent people at tribunals etc too but I don’t know whether that’s chargeable.

You can get free advice from welfare rights and charities relating to your disability.

Yeah. I was just answering the PP’s question. Though I found some of the free advice wasn’t as thorough and specific. I didn’t use Fightback though, I used a different organisation so can’t comment on their actual service from a personal point of view.

Have you had help to complete the PIp form?

Only managing to be up 6 hours a day and too exhausted should qualify you. But you'd have to word it correctly.

But I agree there needs to be a benefits Austen for those with long term illness as well as disability.

PIP is very narrow in its questioning.

Citizens advice basically told me to fill it out under that circumstance. I mean my mobility isn’t an issue there’s 2 sides to pip. I suppose it depends what you are claiming for.

Please stop with this advice. It is fraud and isn’t necessary. I filled in the form using “worse days” and explaining how my condition fluctuates, I explained I can physically walk but it causes me pain / explained what happens if I push myself too much etc. I was completely honest. I got enhanced rates for both elements as an ongoing award. If people put the worst day as if it’s every day and they get caught on a “good day” they will face an investigation and be done for fraud. It’s happened in groups I’m in.

And please do not use Fightback. No one should be paying anyone for services that you can get for free on Facebook groups. Honestly - search for pip / dla on Facebook and you’ll find tons of groups, some of the larger ones are very active with 60k plus members. Join them and read through the thousands of posts if you don’t actually want to ask a question and you’ll learn more doing that than anywhere else.

You might want to reassess this, you don't have to have insurance (assuming you mean life/critical illness insurance) alongside a mortgage anymore. That was a very antiquated rule from many moons ago.

But. Sorry. I just really really don't understand this. I can only assume she's being too positive on the application. If this were me I'd say I literally can't do anything and milk it massively. I don't get why people don't just get themselves wheeled in a wheelchair and say I struggle so much that some days I can't walk or whatever you need to do to get sorted. You're not going to get it by putting on a brave face.

I feel I'm in a similar position, various chronic but low level constant or recurring illnesses and conditions, none of which individually are even worth seeing my GP about let alone qualify me for being recognised as disabled, yet collectively my various conditions leave me with a very much reduced quality of life.

I don't get why people don't just get themselves wheeled in a wheelchair and say I struggle so much that some days I can't walk or whatever you need to do to get sorted.

They will ask why you have the chair and expect a full and detailed answer. They don't just believe you need a chair, you have to have medical evidence to back it up.

DH walks using a stick and the assessor asked him who prescribed it for him. Nobody did, it was a chance conversation with a GP one day that led us to a specialist mobility store where he was correctly measured for a stick and we bought one with a specific handle to suit his needs. He didn't get the points for 'using an aid' because the physio didn't prescribe the stick.

I think you do have to be prepared to go to tribunal. I recently supported one of my clients at tribunal and she was awarded PIP for a painful skin condition that flares up. I think the thing that swayed it for her was an occupational therapy report. Tribunal panel grilled her for an hour and a half.