Pip assessment re Long covid next week . So anxious.

[Greedybilly]

Has anyone had a pip assmt re LC? Any tips/pointers please?
Please don't comment generally re benefits/Long Covid.
I'm unable to work right now and it's gone on for months. Anyone with any lived experience please? I'm really not looking fwd to it 🙄

Yes it is.

But I’ve connected with a somatic OT and she’s made quite a bit of difference.

They don’t like appt letters.

Just apply for your medical records and send them in. Takes no time at all.

Can I pick your brain about how likely someone is to get the enhanced rate of pip for adhd ? Not medicated.

I didn’t mean appt letters. They don’t help I agree. I had written reports from my cancer nurse specialist and oncologists. No issues with these at all.

Like I said before I've given details of OT, GP etc ( who I know will support me) Isn't it up the DWP to make contact? If not I'm screwed

My dd got it for adhd. Shes quite severe though. Cant use public transport, struggles with interaction, extreme fatigue.

Assessments are not recorded as standard. The claimant has to request it.

@PIPnamechangedtthanku for all info.
I'm worried now though - I gave details of gp/ot on original form isn't it up to dwp to contact them?
If not I'm screwed i think. I didn't think it was my job to do this?! Have i missed a memo?!

Don't bank on it.

Sometimes they do request further evidence but that tends to be for other conditions with a higher risk rating. A request for further evidence is likely to significantly prolong a date for assessment as well.

As you have your date it is likely that they have it already or did not request it (this isn't necessarily a bad thing so don't worry).

People really do get hung up on evidence but so much of it such poor quality (eg, from GP, Mrs X has A,B,F,H conditions). That is 99% unhelpful, maybe I have 3 of these conditions but it is affecting Mrs X very differently to me.

A valuable document is one which covers each activity of daily living, and a list of medications of you are feeling generous, written by a professional on headed paper and dated. That's pretty much it.

Professional letters of support are ££ and very low priority for NHS staff.

If you are going to ask for one, please have the courtesy to ask your GP, CPN specialist nurse first, otherwise they put the phone down on is in case we are trying to illicit obtain your medical info. And I support them 100% with that

This is my personal perspective: please think twice about including personal stories about what led to your PTSD/depression. We do not need them, it is not our business and we won't put it in report (likely euphemism as "traumatic event"). Assessors have awful things happen with subsequent MH effects just like anyone in the UK. It can be very triggering with details and photos.

You do not have to justify your MH problems.

On that note, photos of letters can be very helpful. Photos of ANYTHING to do with your body are not required. I believe you have a rash. I have no desire to see any intimate pictures or pictures of deceased people.

The assessors are not robots, they are people. People who have just read the latest awful story of the causes of PTSD for the fourth time that morning and then come across a distressing photo. I've known now more than a few just put the laptop lid down and walk away from the job because of that.

Please, do seek help, support and therapy, but not from the assessor. It's not their role and they do not present themselves as such and they are healthcare professionals and not counsellors.

Best of luck OP.

OP, just saw your update whilst I was sorting my essay!

Don't worry, I guarantee you that this is a make or break situation.

OMG , NOT a make or break situation, I'm so sorry!!!

They’ll contact sometimes, other times, they won’t.

It depends on so many factors. There doesn’t seem to be a pattern to it. Just some people have the GP report, others do not. GPs get paid to return them, so they will, but not everyone is asked.

The onus is on the claimant to arrange and send any supporting evidence. Nobody should be relying on the DWP to source it for them.

And some will return with the practice stamp and squiggles on the signature. And thats it.

Nice work if you can get it.

@Thequeenandthesoldier

Are you an assessor too? I could’ve written that myself. Particularly RE the PTSD. It’ll only ever be written as “traumatic event”, “childhood trauma” etc. People very often divulge things that I wouldn’t write here (in case another reader is upset by it).

Same with the photos of body parts. They’re always scanned in black and white so mostly are just a black blob with bits of white, totally indecipherable.

Yes! I think they can claim about £40 per factual report they send in. Printing money.

@Greedybilly mine is for cancer related stuff. A benefits advisor helped me fill in my form and was able to advise on how to answer the questions. We requested the additional information as supplementary information. It included a synopsis of my diagnosis and how my symptoms affected my day to day living.

I applied with LC a couple of years ago. I was turned down and didn’t have the energy to appeal.
Life hasn’t got any better and I’m planning to reapply and hope there’s more knowledge of the long term effects of LC. My life has totally changed and I’m hugely dependent on my DH.
Hoping I get it this time.
Good luck OP

Next question....how do I get a copy of my original pip application? Yes I know i should have made a copy! Aaah. This is sending me nuts. Going round in circles on dwp website.

@Thequeenandthesoldier jeez thanks!

OP, if they are giving you the run around get through to an actual person and say lots of words including breach of information governance and GDPR. Then say it again to the next person if required, and their manager

IME as an outreach worker, many claimants ask their GP for a report to send with the application, and are refused. They are told by the GP that DWP will contact them for the relevant information, and as you’ve outlined here, that’s simply not the case. Those claimants are usually refused benefit initially because the GP is the only source of medical evidence available and they haven’t been asked for their input.

I lost my job due to long covid and couldn’t get any benefits at all. Have taken a new one with more home working at about 50% of what I was earning before as it’s all I could manage.

I was totally bedridden for months but have regained some capacity now.

You’re v likely to get turned down first time. Like others on this thread, I simply didn’t have the energy to appeal.

"Don’t try to shoehorn issues into irrelevant areas. For example, Activity 2 (taking nutrition), we don’t consider quality of diet, how many meals (more than one) that you’re eating in a day, what time you eat. It’s just wasting your time and the assessor's time as it'll all be disregarded."

I think that's a bit unfair to say. It isn't shoehorning to talk about eating habits if the question is about nutrition. I understand that Activity 4 is about the actual eating and drinking, but many claimants won't realise that and they will just want to make an assessor understand how much they struggle.

Actually, @PIPnamechanged I'm taking back my above post. It's been a little while since I've done a PIP form, but the taking nutrition question is absolutely where issues such as how many meals might be relevant, if the claimant can't eat more than one meal because it's too exhausting.

@Greedybilly my advice would be:

• Don't assume that your assessor will have the same understanding of what is meant by 'long covid' as you do. Focus on the impact it has on your day to day activities rather than the name 'long covid'.
• Remember the test for an activity. For you to be able to satisfy the test, you have to be able to do something 'Reliably', which means:
• Safely - "in a manner unlikely to cause harm to [the claimant] or to another person, either during or after completion of the activity"
• Repeatedly - as often as the activity being assessed is reasonably required to be completed;
• In a reasonable time period - no more than twice as long as the maximum period that a person without a physical or mental condition which limits that person’s ability to carry out the activity in question would normally take to complete that activity
• If you can't do an activity to the above standards, the answer is not 'yes', the answer is 'I struggle with...' or 'It takes so long that....' You need to explain and if the assessor tries to move on, you need to say 'that isn't my full answer. I need to explain x..'
• Be honest. Don't listen to advice to 'give your worst day ever' and don't listen to advice to 'give an average day'. If there are very different days, tell them.
• Yes, you need to provide any evidence you want them to consider. Just because you wrote the names of the professionals involved in your care, that does not oblige them to contact them. If you want them to consider your evidence, you need to provide it.

“Don’t try to shoehorn issues into irrelevant areas. For example, Activity 2 (taking nutrition), we don’t consider quality of diet, how many meals (more than one) that you’re eating in a day, what time you eat. It’s just wasting your time and the assessor's time as it'll all be disregarded."

Posting this as a blanket statement isn’t correct. Case law says otherwise in some circumstances. For example, TK v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (PIP): [2020] UKUT 22 (AAC) and SO v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (PIP): [2023] UKUT 56 (AAC). The former looking at someone with CF needing prompting to eat a sufficient quantity and the latter about overeating. No, it won’t apply to all, but it does to some, and you saying it is irrelevant and will be disregarded is incorrect.