PIP application - supporting letters

[mrsfeatherbottom]

Finally getting round to applying for PIP after being too daunted before - put off by the horror stories. Spoke to someone from Muscular Dystrophy (the most relevant charity for my condition) who was really helpful and she said that they now accept letters of support from family members and friends.

Has anyone experience of this and if so, what did they write?

I support people with claiming PIP and the family letters of support have been around what care/support they provide for the person claiming. They were not just general letters.

Do any if your family or friends support you with your daily living needs?

I work in welfare law. They do accept these letters but they don’t really give them any weight when making the decisions. If it went to tribunal the family and friends would not be objective witnesses. You can include these but I would focus more on medical evidence and getting professionals to write supporting letters. Find the PIP descriptors online and the letters should focus on how you meet these.

I got my mum to write a letter. It explained (relevant to the criteria) what difficulties I have and the help she gives.

Thanks. A lot of the help DH gives me is doing stuff I can't do, rather than helping me do stuff, iykwim. Like, I can wash and dress myself and cook dinners but he does a lot of the housework, all the gardening, walking the dog, taking out the bins, driving when I'm too tired etc.

I can wash and dress myself and cook dinners but he does a lot of the housework, all the gardening, walking the dog, taking out the bins, driving when I'm too tired etc.

It's the washing and dressing and cooking they are interested in not gardening or driving I am afraid.
The PIP questions are can you feed yourself/cook a simple meal, bathe, toilet and dress yourself as well as can you plan and follow a journey, how far can you walk and how do you cope engaging with others.

They don't ask or care whether you can walk the dog or do the gardening. Can I ask what illness/disability you suffer from?

If someone provides you with regular care and support then ask them to write a concise letter on what they do for you every day (help you cook, drive you because you can't walk on your own, help you with your medications, do your food shopping and so on).

I would also include letters from GP, consultant and any other health care professional involved in managing your condition.

Also, be aware that they have a track record of rejecting claims in the first instance after they have assessed you but that you should not hesitate to take it all the way to the independent appeal tribunal.

They refused mine initially although I had a pile of letters from GP, consultants, surgery records and MRI results. Their assessment report when I read it seemed to have written about a completely different person...so I appealed went to tribunal and was awarded PiP at that stage.

I have a progressive neuromuscular condition so it's mainly mobility is my issue (and fatigue) but I have made lots of adaptions to the house etc which the person from the charity I spoke to said to mention.

I am fully prepared to get rejected first time round and have to appeal. I'm finding the process quite emotional. Partly, I think because I've spent the last 18 years since my diagnosis trying to be positive and upbeat and now I'm having to focus on the negatives for this.

Going to dig out all the letters I have from the hospital over the years and see which might be relevant (although because it's progressive, older letters won't probably help). Somewhere I read to include a fact sheet about your condition but there isn't even one, it's that rare what I have. So, I'll have to do a summary myself, I guess.

Also making an appointment with Citizens Advice to go through the form when it arrives.

Thanks for all your help.

You need to focus on how your mobility issues affect your daily living. So although DH does the cleaning/gardening/dog walking the focus needs to be how your health condition affects your ability to do daily living tasks, for example:

Sit/stand to use the toilet/bathe. Do you use aids? Handrails? Have a wet room?
How do you get dressed? Do you need to sit to do it or or use aids to support yourself to dress? How long does it take so for example if it takes 25 mins to put on 3 items because you need to sit or rest so often that's not a reasonable time so you struggle with this activity.

For cooking/eating can you stand at the cooker to cook a simple meal or do you need to sit/use a perching stool due to fatigue or pain?

Can you walk the length if a bus in 1 go or would you need to stop for a minute to rest? Do you use an aid? Are there days where you cannot walk more than a few metres?

Any medical letters will be important to include and how much help you get from others to do the daily tasks they list is also important.

Its difficult as you have lived with your condition for so long you have adapted in order to make it work so it can be hard for you to see what they are asking for and how that rates to you.

Good luck OP and if they refuse please don't give up on it. It can be very taxing to fight their refusal but it can be worth it in the end. 💐

Also I should have said if your condition also includes issues with mental health, again make sure you get a letter from a relevant mental health professional to back that up.

PIP assessment are tricky when it comes to mental health issues.

And please don't give up.

It took me more than a year of the DWP claiming it had lost my form, routinely sending me letters late (think 2 week after the date written in their actual letter...) so I did not have a lot of time to respond to their queries and gather evidence, then rejecting my claim after face to face assessment until I finally got in front of the appeal tribunal that ruled in my favour.

The system seems to be devised to fob people off and hope they just give up...

They're not interested in fact sheets about your disability. They're interested in letters, etc about how you're affected.