PA4 Received - Blown Away!

Well, after that very long telephone assessment, Feb 14th, as my daughters 'Appointee' we finally received the PA4 Report, dated 21st.

And my daughter was awarded zero points across every descriptor, it would be laughable, the Assessor said that she'd taken all of the supporting evidence into consideration, the PIP Review Form as well as the previous PA4 report from 2017.

Some Clarity here: From the age of 7, DLA - higher components for life, PIP - Enhanced in both components for 5 years with a note that things were unlikely to change - she is 32 yrs.

The Assessors justification - “SOH and FE shows she currently works in a Supermarket on the majority of days. It is acknowledged she has had some work adaptions, however her job role still involves working on the shop floor and working on the tills. She has had minimal sick leave over the past 12 months. There is no evidence to support a significant restriction as a result of her Dyspraxia. There is no current or planned Physiotherapy input. SOH does not report the use of any aids"

All I want to say is that the very detailed PIP Review form was jam packed with itemised aids she uses and why. Work Risk Assessments, Occ Health Reports detailing why she cannot work on tills, (interacting with customers is not her strongest point!), Reports/letters detailing all of the modifications to the job role and aids used as well as her Disciplinary letter re sick leave! Reasons why Physiotherapy was on no benefit, etc .......

Thursday I rang the DWP - I spoke to a case worker - she commented on the fact that 'as case workers' they would question the PA4 as a matter of course, but that alarm bells would ring when a claimant goes from Enhanced/Enhanced after 25 years to absolute zero, especially as the justification is the claimant 'goes to work' - she said that the awarding of PIP had no bearing on whether a claimant worked and strongly advised that I was to immediately contact Capita and lodge an official complaint and copy the letter to them, (she confirmed that my daughters claim was still in a queue and that a case worker had not been allocated at that time.)

Contacted Capita - they said too late to make a complaint with them, I was to lodge a Mandatory Reconsideration - I reminded the very unhelpful, but polite lady that I had the PA4 at this time and not a decision, that I was entitled to lodge a complaint! She attempted to put me through to Complaints - Alas no one answering the telephone! She said that she'd send them an email and they'd call me back within 48hrs .......... I am not an overly suspicious person but decided not to wait for a phone call, so composed a complaint letter straight away - it took 6 hours, detailing every inaccuracy, pointing out where those inaccuracies could be proven to have been 'oversights' (I'm being really, really PC here). I sent the letter via email to Capita Complaints and copied it, (twice), to be posted out to the DWP - One for a normal first class post, the other copy as guaranteed next day delivery - belts and braces!

Yesterday we had a prearranged appointment with the GP that had been made by the Surgeries Special Needs Health Assessor two weeks previously. We sat in front of the GP and watched her, no word of a lie, agog and reading my letter of complaint to Capita, pulling the whole PA4 apart - she agreed with me that Physio is a waste of NHS resources - my daughter had Physio up until the age of 18 - they agreed that it was not beneficial to her after she had attended for 14 years. The GP was well aware of problems with my daughters Mental Health and that she had had a total of 5 weeks absence from work. She mentioned that the inaccuracies by PIP assessors was all too common now!

Upshot, despite it being a waste of NHS resources she has referred my daughter back to Physiotherapy, made an unnecessary referral to the ADHD Specialist Team, (she had not had to see them as an adult as the GP Practice were happy to prescribe her medication), a re - referral to the Mental Health Team - who saw her and discharged her 6 years ago with the advice to the GP that 'she was living at home with her parents and appeared to be safe in their care, therefore any changes, ring this number and we'll see her again' A referral to audiology had been made a few weeks beforehand as the GP did agree that my daughter does have a problem with hearing - she was most annoyed at the assessors comments, and asked to keep a copy of my letter as she suspected that there may be contact from the DWP in the near future.

So there it is ................... I've been reading the forums now for some months and note that young adults with ADHD, Autism seem to be being knocked back with the excuse that they work, maybe a coincidence? There is no consideration given to how they actually manage to get to work, carry out their tasks etc etc

The ironic thing is that if she loses her PIP, I think that she'll also lose her Access to Work, Carers Allowance - so will be working a total of 32 hours a week for the princely sum of £80 after her expenses are paid - So, Mr Gov' Man, tell me, why should she and others in the same situation even bother?