Does anyone know much about PIP? Think it's too much..

[ToastTheCat]

Hello all,

I've been on standard rate PIP for the last two year for at first depression and anxiety - after getting the correct help I've actually been diagnosed with CPTSD and cyclothymia and I'm under the CMHT and have trauma therapy as well as taking anti depressants and anti psychotics.

I've recently had a renewal and I asked for a copy of the assessors report and their recommendation has given me 15 points on daily living which is enhanced and 10 on mobility which is standard mobility.

That feels like such a jump and I'm really surprised, is the decision maker likely to follow the assessors report or will like me, think it's too much and removed it completely.

Sorry to ask I'm just really anxious about it all.

It doesn’t sound like too much to me. Keep in mind, trauma therapy can be very difficult and people often feel worse before they start to feel better and then plateau at some recovery level. Your PIP reflects that you will likely need extra help in days to come while waiting for and undergoing therapy.

Once you have had the trauma therapy, you can always inform under changed circumstances and have it downgraded.

All PIP assesssments are reviewed internally to it’s passed that check. A % are then audited further to check for quality or assessment and outcome - I cannot remember the %. Awards can be changed as a result of that but it is a small percentage of the amount audited.
So there is no guarantee that your case will even be audited.

The decision maker can't surely think "it's too much" based on their gut feeling. As long as the assessor demonstrated how they justified their decision, it will be quite a job to overrule it without substantive evidence. You only need 12 points to get enhanced rate either way so even if they dock a few points, it wouldn't matter.

@ToastTheCat Sorry, only just come across this. I was a benefit advisor in a former life and I can assure you that you have nothing to worry about. DWP decision makers are not medically qualified and rely on the assessors’ report to make the decision. There are internal auditors for assessors and if the report has got past them and you’ve had a decision based on it, then you’re fine.

The decision makers are not medically qualified, so rely on the assessors’ report on which to base the decision. Unless the decision maker has any other medical evidence supplied by the claimant which contradicts the report, there shouldn’t be any problem. Gut feelings aren’t a part of the PIP assessment, medical evidence speaking to functional ability is.