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.

And how can that be done through a phone call ? I know someone who gets PIP, she just gets her husband to act as appointee and speak for her. She leads a near normal life, going away to her caravan for weekends, riding her bike, looking after grandchildren, being tipped upside down on fairground rides. But when it comes to PIP assessment time she gets her husband to act as appointee and speak for her because she's too anxious ! very convenient. I'd like to know what checks they make before they allow an appointee to speak for someone. The system is not fit for purpose.

It should be abolished and replaced with a different benefit for disabled people.

im really not into arguing on this site, been here for a good few years and have never argued because I like that everyone has their own opinion and I think that’s great. All I will say though is it does happen, not everything is as clear cut as you say, some people (like my brother) had nothing more than a few phone assessments and was then awarded his pip. Not everything is tribunals, evidence etc. there simply isn’t the resources to do that for everyone applying for pip

Why haven't you reported him if you believe he's faking it

Evidence is mandatory, not optional. Of course they expect it from everyone who is applying.

and this is why people are generally not believed, they usually clearly show they have no idea how it actually works.

Not true, awards can be granted with 0 evidence. I write them.

I don’t believe he’s faking it I know he is and I won’t report him because it doesn’t bother me

So someone says that they are incontinent, you say ok and award them PIP with zero evidence?

I find that hard to believe.

Sorry, it's just not true that you can't get PIP for GP diagnosed and managed anxiety and/ or depression. I've seen many people get it in those circumstances.

You don't need a high level of impairment, at least to qualify for the daily living component - there are 10 questions so you can reach the 8 or 12 points required for an award by getting low points over several questions. The mobility component is much more difficult, with only 2 questions you do need to show quite severe problems. But a lot is based on self reporting (By this I mean including to HCPs)

How do you prove incontinence in an adult ? Do they ask to see wet pads? I'm not even sure things like bladder scans could prove incontinence?
Anyone could tell a GP they were incontinent and it would be documented but how would it be proved?

How do you provide evidence for being severely anxious?

Someone reports incontinence alongside other conditions that makes them unsuitable for assessment, it goes to paperbased, which is what i write. We then approach GP or other HCPs for evidence, we have 20 working days to gather it. Nothing comes back in that time, we then have 2 kinds of reports we can write. One means we write with no HCP or medical evidence, we can get information from social need conacts, or non-hcp like support workers, schools, and carers. Often a named carer is a relative, we get information from them that supports what they have said in the forms. they get an award. The second is a report in their best interest, if everything they report clinically consistent with the conditions they are reporting? Are all their restrictions consistent across the actvities? If it is all consistent then we have to score them without speaking to a single person, inconsistent we dont score them. 0 evidence and suitable for assessment is the same, if everything the claimant is saying to the assessor is consistent with conditions, and consistent across all activities, they can score with 0 evidence. I write them, more or less every day, atleast once a week, as i only write reports for people who cannot be assessed in person or on the phone.

My son is incontinent and under 16 so it's DLA for him. There's a medical reason why he is incontinent which was confirmed and explained by a consultant and a specialist nurse as part of the evidence as well as confirming the medication he takes which is further evidence.

Plenty of medical professionals have also seen him needing to change because he has wet or soiled himself.

Thank you for explaining this, really helpful for people to realise how it works and not just how the would assume it works

Out of the amount of assessment and reports completed up and down the country, its a tiny minority written like this, but it is factually incorrect to state that you cannot get pip without evidence.
Then level of mis-information and assumptions people have around PIP is astounding. Not helped by media falsely reporting on it. But even in cases with 0 evidence, its not easy to get an award, as if people are exagerrating, or blatently lying, then generally speaking, their forms are inconsistent.

It doesn't apply to your brother though because you mentioned phone calls. I imagine what pp is talking about is a minority.

It does apply, as like i said, in assessment if everything is consistent across activities and with conditions reported, they can still get an award with 0 evidence.

Perhaps a key question is should we award (taxpayers) ££ for conditions? Is additional cash really appropriate in all circumstances?

You said it was when phone call assessments weren't possible? pp mentioned her brother had phone calls which I'm assuming means it wasn't paperbased or am I misunderstanding?

I suppose I'm just baffled at the thought of not having to provide evidence for incontinence considering the amount of evidence I had to provide for my son though to be fair, DLA not PIP.

Where did I say it does apply to him?

That makes no sense. I mean you have people who are fairly independent who understand the current scheme wouldn't rightly get pip. You've then got people with the same diagnosis who needs a lot of help

And what happens to those of us without a proper diagnosis? There's evidence in my case that there's something more going on but no one can give it a name. I was born with it. Diagnosed at 19 with something, told at 27 the diagnosis was wrong. I'm now 37 and still no closer to an answer which I may never get. My needs are just as valid as those who are diagnosed

That poster only decided to apply because they thought others got PIP easily.

I am not against PIP but I fail to see how someone with anxiety needs a top of the range motability car!

Motability is a total scam. It should be reserved for people with physical disabilities because the car is modified for their disability.

In also said when assessments are possible similar can occur, however reamining consistent throughout an hour long assessment if you are not being honest is incredibly difficult.

Im fully aware of what the poster is doing she hasn't been subtle about it