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.

We are currently going through the mandatory reconsideration process for my son, who was recently granted LCW but not LCWRA. The assessor was a person on the phone who insisted on speaking to my son at length in spite of me being his legal appointee; didn’t know the difference between learning disability and learning difficulty; refused to listen to what either of us was saying; and was clearly trying to trip us up by repeatedly asking the same questions during different parts of the call.

I complained to DWP immediately after the call had finished, which I hope will carry more weight than had I not complained until we heard and disagreed with the outcome.

DS’s Social Worker, day care centre manager and even the fellow at the Job Centre (who was the person who told us to apply in the first place) support his need for LCWRA. I hope their statements will overturn the baseless opinions of a clearly unknowledgeable assessor. Otherwise, tribunal it is - when a judge can read all our supporting statements, and shake my 20 year old son’s bear by the paw, and tell him that he and his bear can work in an unsupported role.

And again. Nobody has said there is zero fraud, not one person, just that the actual figures provided by the government are low.

Hold on a minute so an ex assessor doesn’t think there is pretty “concrete” value in NHS psychiatrists and specialists diagnosing MH conditions .

”However there’s system can be easily cheated and the percentage quoted for fraudulent claims did not reflect those that I assessed.”

You are the one assessing them!!!! So if you think people are making a fraudulent claim why are you giving them PIP? It’s on you!! And what percentage, figures, evidence are you keeping for this supposed amount that is above the 1% given by the government.

Basically you’re saying those of us sending in robust paperwork that proves significant MH difficulties don’t need to because our loved ones will get it anyway! 😆

I sent in amongst other things a letter from my Audiologist. The assessor read it, told me it was fake, I don't need the therapy I've been referred for and I've grown out of my hearing impairment but she had to ask what one of them
was

Except it's physically impossible to grow out of the impairments I've been diagnosed with

No its not, as an assessor you are tied to a bunch of rules. If evidence provided supports what they are saying, you cant just decide to disagree with it. I fully understad people say this happens in their claims, and im not going to argue their lived expereince, but thats not standard or how we are trained, we are trained that we go with evidence unless there is a huge contradiction. If the form + assessment + evidence are all consistent then the score is given, even if you suspect its not fully true, as you cannot prove otherwise.

But i again, i work outside of in person or telephone assessments, my role is looking to prove rather than disprove. The side i do 95% of reports i write are for a full award due to the level of restrictions they have. And we are very much encouraged to score up if we are stuck between 2 options of descriptors. Field may be different.

And the reason so many are gratned are MR is it is done by a none HCP, and even more at tribunals as they are a diferent criterea to assessors when it comes to awarding points. That system is completey flawed, and costing the country an insane amount of money. Assessment, MR, and Tribunals should be held to the same set of standard and rules.

If the form + assessment + evidence are all consistent then the score is given, even if you suspect its not fully true, as you cannot prove otherwise.

But if you have a form, an assessment and evidence to say a recipient needs pup what on earth grounds do you have to suspect they shouldn’t get it?

Becuase the evidence is often just what a claimant has said too.

Claimant reports anxiety cannot leave the house
Assessment they report anxiety cannot leave the house
GP report "Consulation with patient, reports severe anxiety, having difficuties leaving the home, medication prescribed, referred to talking therapy"

Thats all from the claimant. We cant argue with it, but its all from the claimant. No further evidence to support if they actually take the meciation, or engaged with therapy. And yes in some cases that is 100% true, but 1000s upon 1000s of claims report that, and we know that its not true in every case, but it cannot be disproved unless there are inconsistencies.

You wouldn't be referred to talking therapies if you are agoraphobic

Most talking therapy is done over the phone. My clients can't even get face to face appointments.

So why when you get your pip letter does it often say i see no evidence of this.

Not under CMHT it isn’t.

Well it is in our area.

I've never known agoraphobia being treated in primary care how unusual

It was an example. Its 8am on a sunday, first thing that popped in to my head. And theres nothing there to prove agoraphobia, they reporting anxiety as a diagnosis, not agoraphobia.

Agoraphobia is an anxiety disorder if someone can't leave the house they have Agoraphobia

I find that hard to believe. I live in one of the most under funded parts of the country and every piece of CMHT work my children have had( and they’ve had a lot) has been done face to face. Also many people struggling with anxiety are ND and its well known that face to face is better.

Exactly this. You get referred to CMHT who decide if you meet the threshold.

Same I live in a area that doesn't even offer dbt. That's how underfunded and lacking in treatment it is and even through covid my cpn was still coming round my house. I think the poster is getting primary and secondary care mixed up

Because it also has to meet the threshold of overwhelming psycholgical distress, and this where people fall, because they dont meet that criteria.

Im simplyfying it right down to a word or a diagnosis, its more nuanced than that in what actually meets the criteria to score, which is readily available of tiktok guides pr you tube vides, or in some cases paid services to complete a form for you to increase success rates, as the key words as known to people now. But the point remains, that the form, assessment, and evidence is all just what a person has said.

Strange the poster is an alleged PIP assessor, a cynic might doubt that.

My first pip assessor wrote this even though my neurologist wrote a scientific medical reason why I couldn't do something that couldn't be argued as it was a scientific fact yet the nurse still thought she new better. Anyway I can't argue on here today some of us have work. Enjoy your day arguing with people online

Exactly its so blatantly obvious by the lack of knowledge and simple mistakes. Have a good day i have to go.

Also I’ve read on a few other threads assessors saying they don’t accept GP notes as they’re not dated and are hard to prove as legitimate.

Right. But they arent reporting that, and its not a dignosis on their record. People with agoraphobia (which is a diagnoses) have it as a named condition on a record following. But PIP doesnt work off just named conditions, if they are reporting symptoms of it on forms and assessmenr, and they have reported symptoms of it to a GP. then we have to take that as fact. There is nothing to prove it is true, as its just word from the claimant. A diagnosis of agoraphobia, in line with DSM-5, on a letter from a psychiatrist, 100% solid evidence, but that 1 consultation with a GP a few months ago is given the same weight.