Review.... PIP Telephone Assessment ....1 year later

Thank YOU Chris, but i was never ever employed by the DWP...my personal experience began in 1994 age 30 , when my husband also aged 30, had 3 CVA strokes.
At that point in my life I had no knowledge or awareness that we had a state welfare system ! I just got child allowance once a month , in a lovely neat little book!
It was 6 months after the stroke...with everything collapsing around me , i was introduced to a welfare right specialist at the local CAB.
She saved my life, my family from poverty and eviction and set me on a path to want to learn more...Ive never looked back. All my employed life thereafter , was CAB, Welfare Rights and homelessness prevention with third party charities or Housing Associations , and for my sins, a local authority. So seen both sides of the coin..
BUT ...as I say ..to anyone reading this ...when you have to deal with the DWP ...its a different ball game.
Gone are the days when they had their own in house medical assessors , people you could actually have a grown up conversation with, are no longer there.
When I worked for SCC , there was a DWP Disability Center in Sutton. We were sent there for 2 days to be trained and taught the whole disability benefit claims process. It was a real eye opener. And..a very positive experience.
So , No...i was never employed by the DWP . I seriously wouldn't have been allowed to stay ! lol.

Just an update. Another call to DWP re MR. Very odd experience...long silences between each question..her system was slow...creepy ...then the auto que they read out...then straight into I will ask the questions and you reply what you disagree with . I said I was writing a letter, i was just logging my MR , can I have the form.
She replied...You have to ring us to tell us you want a MR. You download the form and send it it in! I replied I would like a form sent out please if I may. No response. Long silence. Call ended.

Spent most of the day yesterday scanning
and photocopying medical evidence , medical report and decision letter , getting a file ready on my lap top ...im knackered...

also , scouting some case-law..I've found a quite a few very interesting ones..and Ill post them on here later.

Need to regroup and calm down , drink tea... and prepare to write a formal and polite MR.

Its very stressful , emotive and very draining. You are so...not alone.

MR Notice received today dated 30 August 2023.

Unchanged Decision.

Standard Rate Living remains.

Standard Rate Mobility remains.

This means once again , 4th time for PIP , its off to Tribunal I go .

I did write to Claire Coutinho MP about the standard of service by both DWP and IAS re Fibromyalgia .

She forwarded to TOM Purglove MP Minister for the Disabled ( who has a plan for all disabled people to find work )

His response was ....well...interesting...condesending...but interesting. He did contact DWP . on the same day as his written reply.

( sigh )..............................................

I am going the whole way . I need to put his to bed.

Please remind me :

I've downloaded the Tribunal Form

can I get that posted and logged without my submission ?
I need to really focus on my submission, but proving hard to focus on anything atm due to OH decline and my own daily struggles.
Im assuming this will be another 2 years ?

im really really fed up with the way everyone has to fight fight fight, especially with a condition thats completely dibitates you , is invisible, a national charity with only 4 employers and run by volunteers, bless them,, no funding for research, ( covid brain fog is getting funding now though) Im fed up no treatment, fed up with no specialist, fed up with being gaslighted by the DWP...just what exactly is the point of your own testimony on the AR1? If it is completed disregarded?
I am prepping a formal complaint to IAS , a HCP saying " well Ive heard of it " is just not good enough.

The only way I can get up to date medical evidence is to make an nuisance of myself to the GP , and is that fair ? on the GP? on me? on the NHS?

signing off now , sorry for the negativity ....

HI Gordon and everyone.

Its been 15 weeks since my appeal form was sent to HMCTS .
I have written to Claire Coutinho:S MP re how Fibromyalgia . Got blur response from Tom Pursglove . Not worth commenting on.
So I asked why £48m is spent on defending PIP decisions at Tribunal ?
Got another blur response from Tom Pursglove. What a plum.

10 October is the DWP deadline to respond to appeal. Got phone call today .
30 minutes going through my appeal, my papers were not in front of me but Im clear on where I felt they were wrong.
She went through prompting , motivation etc and award points but still remained Standard Rate .
So I then bought up using the dossette box and the reason why I needed this aid to assist me , not just to make life easier...I had been awarded the infamous 1 point in the past.
She agreed that as I needed the dossette box due to memory and brain fog..I got the 1 point. Bingo ! Enhanced Rate!

Then mobility , my aim was Regulation 4 , for my walking . Thankfully I have been assessed regularly for ESA and attended assessment centre and on all medical report , they commented on my walking ability and how slow I am . My leg muscles are weak , strained and painful, but I walk , without an aid. I have two prolapsed discs, but I still walk , but from the onset I get the grinding pain. This is why I am slow, and in pain.
She wanted to reiterate , that I can walk , but I said I wanted the tribunal to make the judgement if Regulation 4 has been met...because I can walk , the way I walk, the time I take , and can I carry on repeatedly do that ? No.
She agreed. She said she is awarded me higher rate mobility , because of my ESA assessments . ( grrrr)

Then we have the length of award . It 3 years. My appeal is that this disease is unlikely to improve.
She said this is because I am down for weight loss surgery and I when I have it my condition might improve.
My response was that if I had Type 2 diabetes , weight loss surgery would remove the diabetes.
However, weight loss does not remove the pain or the disease of Fibromyalgia.
She said ok, Ill award it for 4 years. LOL.

So im expecting 15 weeks of amended payment.
I do not dare to even hope they would back date to my completed AR1 form in June 2022.

So once again B W thank you , thank you , thank you.
Your info and guidance is excellent, I can not recommend this site and all your help and resources enough.

To anyone reading this , particularly struggling with pain from Fibromyalgia, dont let the DWP get away with not acknowledging your daily struggles with each activity.