'Companion' help during PIP assessment

[Vanillalover84]

I will soon be helping my 16 year old claim PIP for autism, dyspraxia and mental health difficulties. I am not his appointee as he is not cognitively impaired (other than the slow processing difficulties his autism can cause). I will help him write the assessment form and be with him during the phonecall. Has anyone been in this situation and successfully claimed? I have had a look at the descriptors and he does meet these, more because he has a lot of executive dysfunction and 'freezing' during tasks (and on bad days would not be able to do much). I would be grateful for any advice. I think while he doesn't lack capacity he does need a 'companion' to help during phonecalls/appointments to add information/remind him to mention certain things. Can you ask for someone else to help expand on things at your PIP assessment if you have not got an appointee?

I think you need to think carefully about whether an appointee is required, DS doesn’t sound able to manage the claim himself. But, yes, you can attend any assessment with DS and chip in without being appointee.

Hi, yes you can be there to support him and add additional info. If the assessor thinks that you’re contributing too much to the assessment and him too little then they’ll let you know of this during the assessment. If the assessor is concerned that he isn’t managing the assessment then they’ll discontinue it. It’ll go back to the enquiry centre and they’ll consider other options (appointee, paper based and so on)

If the assessor is concerned that he isn’t managing the assessment then they’ll discontinue it.

Unfortunately, although they should, this doesn’t always happen. It depends on who you get.