PIP for Anxiety

[IntelligenceIsFree]

AIBU to clear things up?

The current nasty rhetoric around disabled people at the moment is astounding. Society needs to be reminded that we are ALL one illness or accident away from disability.

Everyone knows someone who is gaming the system, yet the PIP fraud rate is extremely low. The public demonising, does not match the reality.

The hot topic is “anxiety” and how people with “anxiety” are gaming the system, getting “free” cars and robbing tax payers; this is being constantly fed through media, news articles and so on.

This is simply not true. The people spouting this nonsense clearly have no idea how PIP works. Nobody gets PIP without strong medical evidence. Nobody.

Before anyone posts “my neighbour got PIP just by telling lies”. No, they did not. That’s not how it works.

People need to be educated properly on how benefits work, how they are awarded and what the criteria for mobility cars actually is; the cars are not in fact free.

People need to be educated on the fact that there is anxiety, which every human suffers from at some point, and then there are anxiety DISORDERS which are entirely different and can be life changing and debilitating. Hence, the need and entitlement for PIP.

Brenda down the road who feels too anxious to go to Bingo on a Friday night is NOT getting PIP ❌

Mary up the lane who has such severe OCD that she cannot leave her own home for fear that she will die, IS getting PIP .✅

There’s a huge difference.

The current turning on disabled people is shameful and we are living in a country full of hate because Bob (and his Uncle) are annoyed that they are paying tax to “support all of these scroungers”.

Bob (and his Uncle), needs to hope that they never get cancer, or suffer life changing trauma or have an unfortunate accident to avoid being served a huge scrounged humble pie.

I do not suffer from anxiety but as a human, I am pleased we have a system in society to support the most vulnerable people who need it. Life can happen to anyone.

As always, a high profile fraud case pops up in the news (won't add fuel to the fire by linking) and it prompts a wave of social media outrage on the premise that all PIP claimants must be gaming the system.

There isn’t any. Disability support worker here - over two decades of experience. If a PIP claimant is reported for suspected fraud it’s ALWAYS investigated - sometimes it’s just in the form of a check on the level of claim and a review form being sent to the claimant, at the same time as checking with their GP or other HCP involved with them to make sure nothing has changed. If there’s nothing different the investigation is closed, if something has changed then benefit is suspended while a wider investigation is made of the circumstances. It could simply be that there’s been an improvement in their condition that they’ve failed to report, and that’s not always treated as fraud if there’s a good reason.

The problem the reporters of that suspected fraud have is that once they’ve reported they don’t hear anything else about it. What they fail to understand is that DWP has no obligation to inform them of the outcome of any investigation because it’s confidential and none of their business. It doesn’t mean it’s not investigated.

Oh come off it, most of them are already avoiding paying tax by squirrelling it away in off shore accounts anyway.

Thank you for that link !

49% for TIA versus 61% for Fibromylagia.

Which MN absolutely loves because it gives posters a reason to start benefit bashing threads in the guise of ‘concern’.

54% for chronic fatigue

"Thst doesnt mean they are successful though
I too have seen people on DLA / PIP facebook groups putting in claims for very tenuos reasons they rarely get awarded though."

Yes there are often parents on DLA Facebook groups who don't understand the level of need that is required to be awarded and complain when their child doesn't get the level the parent expected.

The problem with these figures is when you claim for pip you have to write all your medical conditions down so for example I wrote hypothyroidism, asthma, anxiety disorder etc it doesn't mean thats what I specifically got pip for

Yes most disabled people will struggle with chronic fatigue its a symptom of many conditions and a side effect of many medications

Was teaching kids today about Elizabeth 1 and how she introduced the idea of the deserving and undeserving poor. Obviously, it's was all a way of ensuring that people were distracted from the daylight robbery of enclosure - designed to make the rich even richer. Get the peasants to fight amongst themselves so they never figure out who's really shafting them.

One of the kids even said 'Oh that's like what people say about PIP'.

Disappointing to know that the critical abilities of most people can't match a 14 year old.

Part of my PIP award is related to my anxiety but I needed evidence from my neurologist and my counsellor as to the degree of its severity and how it impacts on my daily life.

Saying “I have anxiety” and showing a prescription from the GP is most likely not enough on its own to get awarded PIP.

Please remember that this information is not meant for public consumption. It’s meant as a guide for professionals such as health care workers and PIP assessors, and is not a representation of the overall success rate for PIP. For example, a 50% success rate for say, diabetes could mean as little as two claimants making a successful claim if only four claimants with diabetes have actually claimed and two have been turned down. It’s the numbers claiming in each category that matter as well as the percentage success rate.

What!???? 🤣🤣🤣 jealous of what? I own my home, I dont lie, he openly takes the piss how money he gets in rent, UC, PIP and his £750 a week cash in hand job. He is a parasite to society. Never had a proper job and thinks the world owes him a living.

Oh wait is that you ex husband......???

Spot on.

this is fascinating - 15% success rate for acne, but only 91% for double amputation... and 50% for anxiety

I’ll just redirect you to this

“There isn’t any. Disability support worker here - over two decades of experience. If a PIP claimant is reported for suspected fraud it’s ALWAYS investigated - sometimes it’s just in the form of a check on the level of claim and a review form being sent to the claimant, at the same time as checking with their GP or other HCP involved with them to make sure nothing has changed. If there’s nothing different the investigation is closed, if something has changed then benefit is suspended while a wider investigation is made of the circumstances. It could simply be that there’s been an improvement in their condition that they’ve failed to report, and that’s not always treated as fraud if there’s a good reason.
The problem the reporters of that suspected fraud have is that once they’ve reported they don’t hear anything else about it. What they fail to understand is that DWP has no obligation to inform them of the outcome of any investigation because it’s confidential and none of their business. It doesn’t mean it’s not investigated.”

100% this

so how did your neurologist and councilor know the impact on your life? you telling them so?

My point is it should not be a disability in and of itself for a lot of people claiming PIP for it. There is such a a culture of despondency in this country and I blame the benefit system for a lot of this. People seem to just give up and are happy to live off benefits forever which means disabled people who actually need financial help get denied a fair amount of help because the financial pot is being distributed across far too many people.

How do you know that pip fraud is really low? Surely we only know about the people caught, not about those not caught.

But if you are given evidence showing him manual labouring when he apparently cant walk up stairs unaided.....? As long as he keeps asking for his repeat prescription for pain meds which he then sells to addicts....., thats ok? The system is screwed.

I think you are being very naive.

My brother gets PIP, he’s an alcoholic. He is very happy with his life. In his words, “I get more money than I ever did working” & “that’s why I buy so much random shit” (£600 Lego kits, doesn’t do them). Where is the incentive to stop drinking when he is so handsomely rewarded?
He has £400 ‘spending money’ a week after rent/bills etc.

If you’ve got a drink problem, no need to worry about the future, the state will provide handsomely for you to fund and continue in your lifestyle.

I get PIP but only recently claimed it in the last couple of years. I could have had DLA/PIP for 40+ years but never claimed it as I thought I'd never get it as I was too independent and stubborn.
Increasing old age has chipped away at my independence and I now rely on my DH for so much now. It was DH saying that I didn't see how much help or assistance that I actually had or was getting - that made me apply. It's been useful for disability aids at home and knowing that I can pay for outside help when it is good too.

Who are you to know so confidently that no one is playing the system? How would you possibly know that?

Living where I do currently in a more deprived area, it is very common here for many to live on benefits for life. People in areas like mine see it all the time. People they know are physically fit, know do not have anxiety levels to the point that it stops them doing things, as we see them out and about having a more active social life than the rest of us. I know many people like this. With a physical diagnosis it is harder to fake. Those who have read what the tick boxes are and are claiming for mental health reasons can very easily say to the dr they are struggling to do cooking, look after themselves, keep the house tidy. They get anxiety from doing xyz. Then go to claim pip for this saying the same thing. What evidence do you think is asked that they can't provide. Noone is going to check on them at random to see if they are really living like this.

Unfortunately those which genuinely need it for physical reasons are easier targets if looking to cut down on claims. They will never be able to prove otherwise if someone says their mental health are preventing them from doing anything

You don’t know the details of his claim or the outcome because as the quoted poster said- it’s none of your business.