Do people really think PIP claimants are fraudsters?!

[Greedybilly]

As someone with a chronic illness in the middle of claiming PIP I think it's important to point out it's very stressful to go through the process and actually get the benefit.
To those who were inferring it's an easy blag - I would say yes there will always be a few scammers who claim fraudulently ( though god knows how tbh?) the majority have to struggle for years/go through appeals/give up.
Just saying this for balance as I feel MN is turning slghtly into the Daily Fail.

I get legacy DLA at the high rate for mobility issues. Each year I get the offer of a Motability car or scooter but have never applied. I dont want my neighbours to know I receive any kind of benefit. The less they know about me the better. I doubt any of them even know my name because I have never told them, I dont do the kind of social media where I report on my life.

Many people fill the paperwork in to make it easier to get PIP. Whilst not fraudulent as such, they’re being less than honest. There’s actually advice out there on google where people coach others on how to fill in the paperwork to maximise their success at getting it, by being less than truthful. It’s hard to trust the system when you know someone who claims it who leads a full and busy life, with no signs of illness or disability (someone I know). And then you read on here how difficult it is to get. It just doesn’t add up…

No you’re talking bullshit

You qualify for an indefinite Personal Independence Payment (PIP) award if you are over the State Pension age, or if your condition is severe and lifelong, and you receive the higher rates for both the Daily Living and Mobility components. An indefinite award is also made if a fixed-term award is deemed inappropriate because your condition is unlikely to change in the long term, or if your condition is only likely to deteriorate.

Somebody improving and recovering from a breakdown does not qualified or an indefinite( 10 year review) PIP award in any way.

Cripes you're lucky to still get DLA! They've been reassessing people on DLA for years, but DWP had to pull a lot of people off that to focus on UC claimants during Lock Down so the reassessment slowed down.

It's more difficult to get PIP than the old DLA.

When you come up for reassessment, do remember that if you get turned down, you can always appeal the decision &, I understand, that about 70% of appeals are upheld - in other words, the original adverse decision is overturned. CAB (what used to be Citizen's Advice) are able to help as are the dozens of specialist charities that are out there.

A cynic might suggest that DWP turn down a lot of applications betting on people not bothering to appeal. I couldn't possibly comment as I don't make those decisions & wouldn't know.

Judging by the number of times I've read on MN where people think you should fill the PIP form out just based on a worst day I'm not surprised so many people get awarded it. Not sure how this kind of nonsense gets spread around. It's based on how you are the majority of days.

Is it really necessary to keep swearing at other posters - are you unable to make a point without the foul language!

How do you know this?

You can't get PIP over state pension age - it's Attendance Allowance (AA) for pensioners.

Very few people have a lifetime award of PIP, you have to be very severely disabled, even then it's often reviewed every 10 years. The thinking is that they don't want to write anyone off.

However, if you've been given an award prior to state pension age, the award continues after you've reached that age.

Yep I know a man on an indefinite award. He still has a light touch sort of thing every 10 years and that is more to make sure he is still alive and no one is claiming for him and getting the money
His conditions will only ever get worse so it is pointless doing a proper reassessment as he is already on the highest award for both elements.
He also works full time.

Oh my God. The monetary gain is so minimal and the process to get it hugely onerous. There might be a few people committing fraud but they really are the minority. I used to work in a position where I'd see benefit fraud and 99 percent of people who had committed it - and we're talking £50 here, not thousands - had done so accidentally, by not filling in a form correctly. It's so misguided to assume it's easy to get and you're going to be living a life of luxury in it. The finacial benefit is shit and you get the added benefit of being disabled. Often you don't get to work at all, so that impacts pension and future proofing. It also has a negative impact on self esteem. Please, look at the situation critically. Ask yourself why the British public is being fed this awful narrative by the increasingly right wing government. People on benefits effectively contribute nothing to them - there's no reason not to throw them under the bus to save their own skin.

They'll never respond. They like to comment a bash and sod off again.

I know several able-bodied people who are claiming this, just on the pretext that “why not, everyone else is doing it”.

Sure you do.

I watched a friend fill in a DLA form for her daughter, she had already convinced the HV to refer her daughter for ND assessment so she signed off on it, she got another friend to fill in part of the form as a "babysitter" and basically wrote a load of bull. She admitted to doing so, got awarded it straight away, no more questions asked. I know at least one other person who's done this for their child and one person claiming PIP in a similar way.

People can completely disbelieve me and some others on this thread who knows people personally who are playing the system, but it absolutely does happen, much more than people (and the government) think.

Friend got PIP after (Genuine) diagnosis of myeloma. She’s in remission and been told it’s given her an extra possible 10 years of life… which she now says she’s intending to enjoy every minute of - and says that means not going back to work for as long as she can get away with it for.

Of course it is abused, as are many benefits. There are websites which (for a fee) guide those who want to make a fraudulent claim. It all needs a thorough overhaul to weed out the cheats, but can't see any government being brave enough to do it (same as the NHS). I don't understand what is so bad though about having your claim checked out if it is genuine.

What do you think should happen?

@Yamamm an incentive to get better? Like you can magic away a mental health illness just in the same way you can magic away a physically debilitating condition?

Its a completely different form for renewal the questions are completely different so how could you possibly write the same.

NHS MH service may as well not exist.
There is no help out there.

I couldn't give a fuck about what people think about it, quite frankly. I have proved to the DWP with evidence that my day to day life is badly affected by my disability, that is all that is relevant.
It's funny really, people are "jealous" about the money that is given to the disabled and think they should also get this "money for nothing", but they never want to take the life changing and limiting disability with it.
Stupid cunts.

@TheSpiritofDarkandLonelyWater the services are lacking but the PP made out that people with mental health issues should just "get better" - which is obviously impossible given the gaps in service.
If I was missing a limb and the NHS was failing to give me a prosthetic (no offence intended, I have a friend who is in despair about the lack of usable prosthetics to enable her to return to work), I doubt anyone would be telling me to "get better". Although she has frequently told to "get on with it".
Neither of these are acceptable. We have an overwhelmed health service. Benefits are required to try to plug the gaps in the health service, and provide support to those living with health issues (whether mental or physical).

People who get PIP are not necessarily economically inactive. The two whom I know best (one blind, the other a wheelchair user) have always worked full time.

I’ve just been diagnosed with an auto-immune condition - I’ve looked at the PIP form and feel I could easily write my answers to fit the criteria - in the past I wouldn’t have claimed it but now I think why shouldn’t I, everyone else seems to be at it!

But that isn’t the same as claiming fraudulently. If you are entitled to it and fit the criteria you SHOULD claim, that’s what it’s there for. I have multiple autoimmune issues (lupus and all sorts) and I get high rate indefinitely.