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.

Anxiety is a normal emotion everyone feels anxiety disorder is a mental illness they are not even close to being the same thing

Where do you think the money for PIP is coming from?
The fact it's not means tested has nothing to do with all of us, taxpayers, funding PIP via our taxes.
The latest welfare bill, which includes PIP, exceeded total income tax receipts. About half of that bill is pension and another half is welfare.

Imagine - if you pay e.g. 30k of income tax, 15k out of it goes to UC, PIP, child benefit etc. Not a penny on NHS, education, defense or police. If that benefit bill was cut at least 10%, than 1.5k of that tax could actually go to improve NHS MH service.

Its 6% of what we pay in tax that goes on all benefits

well ive got a tribunal booked for the 18th for eupd

They do. DP has GAD, CPTSD as well as bouts of psychosis and has been begging to see secondary care. He's been in and out of hospital, speaking in word salad, lost motor function, and developed tardive dyskenesia from the medication GPs have prescribed and still refused to refer to secondary care.

He often can't leave the house unless he is supported, and I can't support him due to my own disabilities.

He's even been told he wouldn't be a good candidate for referral to secondary care or the community mental health team because he can't leave the house.

I'm sure his GPs aren't really happy that they have to provide all of his care either, but not everybody who needs access to secondary care or specialist referrals actually gets access to them.

I found there was no help if you’re ill but not really ill
to explain I have a couple of conditions and at times they’ve affected me badly where I’ve had to take unpaid time off work/risk losing my job
but it’s very much work full time as there isn’t any help if you aren’t able to but you aren’t THAT unwell

I'm immunocompromised for life and kept getting infection after infection which meant time off work and again loss of earnings, disciplinary meetings etc
then I got cauda equina and needed surgery
then stage 4 endometriosis affecting my bladder and bowels, had to take 4 weeks off after a laparoscopy unpaid

I know people will say “well you should have savings” but when you’re single and earning min wage…

Was the referral not done in hospital? Who diagnosed him with psychosis and cptsd

Good luck have you got all your evidence letters from psychiatrists, carers, cpn, care co, discharge letters from inpatient stays, medication lists etc it will all help the more evidence you have the less likely they will be able to deny what you can and can't do.

It doesn't just go on medical evidence though. There's evidence from other areas of life. For example, things like Power of Attorney can sway a decision. Has someone else had to take legal responsibility for your finances, for example? Where they have, this will lend credibility to your claims as it shows failure to manage something that most people manage and the fact that this has been recognised by, say, family members, who have taken steps to assume legal responsibility for you - something that has consequences for them and their own obligations. if you don't have this in place it can be used against you as they may say that you are managing your finances just fine - something with a degree of complexity, therefore any claims you may have made about other things you don't manage may simply be written off as you choosing not to do them. Other evidence includes things like failure to pay tax returns in self-employment, taking longer to complete a degree than it would usually take, incurring fines, loss of jobs due to attendance issues or underperformance etc. Solid evidence that you aren't coping with life to the standard of a non-disabled person. If you don't have evidence that you are struggling in these ways it may just be assumed that you're not and therefore not severe enough to be awarded enough points for an award. It's not all self-reported.

So it wasent as easy as you thought then?

Guess not! But we will soon see x

You are missing the point op. Its not that people dont believe sometimes anxiefy can be debilitating. The llint is that ot is really only diagnosed by the patients own testimony . People find out what to say, what buzz wkrds tk uze to get a diagnosis

Yeah its not easy like people make out but if you have lots of evidence and proof of the extra help you need fingers crossed you get something I see on your other thread you're going for the lowest amount so focus specifically on the criteria you match and the evidence to prove they are the specific areas you struggle on. If you have solid evidence they will struggle to dispute. it. Like for e.g can you manage your own medication or does your cpn administer it or are you on daily prescriptions things like this are easy to prove with a letter from your cpn stating her role in this. They can't argue that i mean they will try to but they can't.

There is a person currently on this thread having to fight and go to tribunal to get the lowest amount of pip for bpd and you still think people with mild or made up anxiety can just get pip with no actual evidence

I spent several years, up until about a year ago, volunteering in an advice centre helping people fill in PIP forms. I stopped because I became totally disillusioned with the system. My opinion is that the system often works perversely, with people who don't need it being awarded it, and the most vulnerable and needy failing.

And the problem is systemic. The questions and points system are nonsensical and don't assess true need at all.

Even more concerningly, the process is difficult to navigate. I know people will say this is proof it is robust - it isn't robust. It just makes it virtually impossible for the seriously mentally unwell to cope with. Much easier for people well enough to look into how points are awarded, and how to answer questions in interviews. If someone is seriously impaired, and they don't have family or support workers to advocate for them (and no, being seriously unwell does not mean people will have access to NHS support to fill in the forms), then bad luck basically.

So essentially, it's a system where the most seriously mentally unwell are likely to not get what they need, and the mildly unwell but motivated claimants stand a decent chance. And of course the mildly unwell but motivated person is far more likely to be able to cope with the appeal process.

And I know PP will say, but you need lots of evidence! Not really, consultants letters are often pretty worthless in an application as they won't explain how the claimant meets the requirements to earn points on the questions. I'm sure people have heard the phrase " it's not the diagnosis, it's how it affects you." This is true for PIP applications and doctors letters are rarely helpful as they don't know how to word them and state medical facts, which PIP isn't really interested in.

I'm certain the government are fully aware the system is fucked, they just don't care. Or at least not enough to look into how it could be changed to make it easier for the seriously unwell to get the award they should.

Wouldn’t disagree with any of this. The claimants I supported with mental health PIP applications mostly accepted being turned down no matter now unfair the decision because they simply couldn’t face the appeal process. It’s interesting that when I did persuade and support some of these claimants to start the appeal process DWP came forward after receiving the paperwork and revised the decision in the claimants’ favour before the tribunal case was due to be heard.

This is what happened to mine went from zero to full rate for both on MR they didn't want to go to tribunal I had to much evidence they would of looked stupid

PIP only supports the highest level of mental health conditions. The assessment criteria are all online and freely searchable. That posters don’t do this before posting says a lot about the lack of critical thinking when it comes to these matters. Many posters here unwilling to listen to experience based evidence in favour of their own personal narrative.

I’ve supported claimants at tribunal and I never cease to be amazed at how often claimants are forced by DWP to engage with the appeal process, then once it becomes clear the claimant intends to go ahead, DWP cave and award benefit at the appropriate level. It’s akin to a game show. And it doesn’t go unnoticed. The chairman of the tribunals service is lobbying for DWP to be fined for every claimant who is successful at appeal tribunal.

This is absolute bullshit. Sorry but I’ve explained the high bar set for mental health claims so many times I’m not prepared to do it again. Read the bloody thread.

This would be perfect as I dread to think how much tribunals cost

Where power of attorney has been obtained it means nothing for PIP purposes unless it’s activated and the claimant has been examined and deemed unable to take care of their own affairs. This is by no means always the case because a lasting power of attorney can be obtained and activated and either used when the person has lost capacity, or before they have done so if they require help before this becomes the case. Evidence of their capacity would still be needed where this is the case.

This is the one thing that those critical of disability benefits don’t factor in. The assessment system is not fit for purpose and in many cases claimants are forced to go to tribunal to get a fair award. 60% of tribunal cases are successful in overturning a non award. It costs a fortune to the tax payer. If the system was properly overhauled and the focus on getting better quality decisions first time a lot of money would be saved without the need for drastic cuts to a benefit that many rely on as a lifeline.

There is access to mental health care where it’s warranted and some MH conditions are outside the scope of primary care.

Hahaha the naivety on this thread is amazing! My brother gets pip, said he was suicidal and depressed… he isn’t. Partners close friend gets pip, said he was depressed, incontinent etc… he isn’t in fact he laughs saying how his pip has just paid for his most recent trip to Thailand. Just because you don’t know many people who play the system doesn’t mean it’s not common. I live in what would be considered a deprived area of a big city and the amount of people I know, friends and family who say partners aren’t living with them, work 16 hours and the rest cash in hand or claim pip is unbelievable. It doesn’t bother me, ive grew up this being the norm and although i know it isn’t people do what they’ve got do/ want to do. In fact most people I know are driving round in motorbility cars they get off their cousins aunties Nan 😂 this is life in parts of the country like where I’m from. Of course there are plenty of people who claim pip who need it and plenty of people who need it and can’t claim but don’t think that people don’t play the system